Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng insists he’s ‘sticking to the plan’ with Liz Truss to help tackle bills after market turmoil
KWASI Kwarteng came out fighting for his mini budget today, vowing to “stick to the growth plan” despite market turmoil.
Visiting local businesses in Darlington this afternoon, the Chancellor said: “We are sticking to the growth plan and we are going to help people with energy bills. That’s my two top priorities.”
Hours ago Liz Truss similarly vowed to stick by her government’s £45bn tax slashing agenda.
The PM told BBC local radio stations she needed to make “controversial and difficult decisions” on Britain’s finances to get the country through a tough winter.
And she insisted imposing massive tax cuts “is the right plan” for the country.
The defiant PM said: “I think we have to look at the situation we would be facing if the government hadn’t acted.
“We’ve taken action by stepping in and making sure no one is paying fuel bills more than £2,500.“
Yesterday, pension funds holding £1trillion of British savings were narrowly saved from disaster days after the mini-Budget tax bonfire was announced last week.
Fears around the health of the economy caused the biggest sell-off of long-term government debt to the Bank of England since the 1990s recession.
The chaos below the surface of the economy was similar to that seen with Northern Rock in the early days of the 2007/8 financial crisis.
Mortgage panic ramped up with lenders pulling 1,000 deals in 24 hours amid fears interest rates could reach six per cent.
And the FTSE 100 Index was hit by volatility amid the selling off of bonds and wider global recession fears.