New UK Finance Minister Hunt Reverses Truss's Economic Plan In Dramatic U-Turn  

 

• New finance minister Jeremy Hunt scrapped Prime Minister Liz Truss' economic plan and scaled back her vast energy subsidy on Monday, launching one of the biggest fiscal policy U-turns in British history to stem a dramatic loss of investor confidence.
• Charged with halting a bond market rout triggered by the government's announcement on Sept. 23 of huge unfunded tax cuts, Hunt has now reversed all the policies that helped Truss become Conservative Party leader and premier less than six weeks ago.
• Her spokesman denied that Hunt was running the country after his new strategy of also cutting spending sent the pound soaring against the dollar and helped government bond prices start to recover from a three-week pounding.
• "A central responsibility for any government is to do what is necessary for economic stability," Hunt said in a televised statement, adding that he would "reverse almost all the tax measures announced in the Growth Plan three weeks ago."

(Source: Reuters)