Kwasi Kwarteng Will Unveil Spending Cuts Plan On Halloween

In another U-turn, the medium terms fiscal plan has been brought forward from November 23.
Kwasi Kwarteng will unveil his spending cuts plan on Halloween
Kwasi Kwarteng will unveil his spending cuts plan on Halloween
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Kwasi Kwarteng will unveil his plan to slash public spending to pay for £43 billion-worth of spending cuts on Halloween.

In another U-turn, the chancellor announced that he is bringing forward his medium term fiscal plan from November 23.

The move comes despite Kwarteng insisting last week that he was sticking to the original date.

He told GB News: “It’s going to be November 23.”

The chancellor has been forced into the change of date after Tory MPs insisted the money markets could not wait another six weeks to find out how the government plans to balance the books.

That followed the economic chaos caused by last month’s mini-budget, which caused the pound to fall to its lowest ever value and the cost of mortgages to soar.

The Bank of England was even forced to intervene to save the UK pensions industry.

Following a Tory rebellion, Kwarteng had to ditch plans to abolish the 45p income tax rate paid by the highest earners.

The chancellor revealed the medium term fiscal plan will now be published on October 31 in a letter to Mel Stride, the chairman of the Treasury select committee.

He said the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of the state of the UK economy will also be published on the same day.

Responding on Twitter, Stride said he welcomed the announcement, which he hoped would mean the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) will not have to hike interest rates by as much when they meet on November 6.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spoksperson Sarah Olney said: “This is yet another screeching U-turn from a government that’s lost control of the economy.

“The chancellor needs to explain what he’ll do to tackle soaring mortgage costs caused by his botched budget. The government’s silence on this mortgage misery is growing more deafening by the day.
“Without a clear plan to protect homeowners this risks ending up as Kwasi Kwarteng’s Halloween horror show.”
Close

What's Hot