UK puts forward fiscal measures after fiscal turmoil

UK puts forward fiscal measures after fiscal turmoil

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Britain’s new Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt is set to unveil tax and spending measures later on Monday and bring forward part of his fiscal plan to reassure markets after a botched debt-fueled budget.

Hunt, who was transferred to the job on Friday to replace the sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, will “make a statement bringing forward measures from the medium-term fiscal plan” due Oct. 31, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Prime Minister Liz Truss sacked Kwarteng on Friday after her latest tax cut budget wreaked havoc on markets and fueled intense speculation about her political future just a month after taking office.

Monday’s measures “will support the sustainability of public finances,” the Treasury Department added, after last month’s infamous mini-budget sent bond yields skyrocketing and the pound collapsed on fears of skyrocketing debt.

“This follows … further talks between the Prime Minister and Chancellor over the weekend to ensure sustainable public finances underpin economic growth,” he added.

Chancellor Hunt met with the Bank of England governor and the head of the Debt Management Office late Sunday to discuss the plans.

– “Too far, too fast” –

Following his surprise appointment, Hunt launched Saturday with a warning of impending tax hikes as he dramatically reversed course on the right-wing Truss’ radical economic reform program.

The mini-budget presented on September 23 went “too far, too fast,” Hunt said over the weekend.

And the Chancellor warned against “taking nothing off the table” in view of the speculation about painful austerity measures, but also defended the Prime Minister.

But the excitement over the budget – which included huge tax cuts and a costly freeze on domestic energy prices – has reportedly sparked a conspiracy to oust Truss from Downing Street.

Amid the market turmoil, the BoE was forced to enter the markets as part of an emergency asset purchase policy that ended on Friday.

Tax cuts were at the heart of the poorly run budget.

But they have been funded by billions of dollars in additional borrowing, which has caused financial markets to panic at the prospect of higher inflation, which has already plunged UK households into a cost-of-living crisis.

Truss fired Kwarteng hours after he rushed home early from international financial meetings in Washington – and she then staged another about-face by agreeing to a substantial increase in corporate profit taxes.

The Prime Minister had already waived a tax on the richest earners, sparking outrage as millions of ordinary Britons suffer from decades of inflation.

Senior Conservative MPs were reportedly planning to oust Truss within days, horrified by the party’s collapse in opinion polls since replacing Boris Johnson on September 6.

– Trussonomics ‘Gambling’ –

Monday’s news sent the pound up 0.4 percent against the dollar, while the UK 30-year bond yield slipped slightly to 4.54 percent as traders digested the news.

“Incoming Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has the air of a problem-solving teacher who was tricked into rescuing a failing school and today faces his first major presentation test with an emergency budget plan being rolled out to try to shake up financial markets calm down,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

But she warned: “Trussonomics may have been torn up and sent to the shredder – but the author of the great gamble remains in power and has the final say on the direction of travel.”

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