As pressures for him and Liz Truss to attend IMF meetings in the United States increase, the chancellor is returning to the United Kingdom a day early, and the Bank of England’s fiscal intervention ends today.
A minister informed that Kwasi Kwarteng enjoys the full trust of the prime minister and will stick to his economic plan.
Minister of foreign trade Greg Hands stated, “I am aware that the prime minister has full trust in Kwasi Kwarteng.
“I’ve worked extensively with Kwasi; he’s an exceedingly capable, extremely intelligent individual with good judgment.
Furthermore, I have complete faith in Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer.
He responded, “Absolutely,” when asked if Mr. Kwarteng and Ms. Truss will still be chancellor and prime minister in one month.
Mr. Hands would to comment on rumors that they want to overturn key elements of the tax-cutting mini-budget, which shook the markets when it was announced last month.
He stressed repeatedly that the public will have to wait until 31 October, when Mr. Kwarteng releases his medium-term fiscal plan and the Office of Budget Responsibility publishes its estimate, to learn how the billions in cuts will be paid for.
This week, the chancellor attended IMF meetings in Washington, DC, but left a day early to return to the United Kingdom today.
Mr. Hands emphasized that it is “not unusual” for ministers to return from international trips a day early and stated that he is returning to meet with colleagues and prepare for October 31.
He reaffirmed Ms. Truss and Mr. Kwarteng’s insistence that the UK’s market volatility is part of a global issue exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine and the recovery from the pandemic.
‘Get behind Truss’
Mr. Hands was questioned about a report in The Times indicating that certain Conservative members of parliament are prepared to replace Ms. Truss with Rishi Sunak and Mr. Kwarteng with Penny Mordaunt.
He dismissed this concept, stating that he “absolutely does not recognize that narrative.”
Mr. Hands, who supported Mr. Sunak in his candidacy for the Tory leadership, said he spoke with Ms. Mordaunt yesterday and would be “extremely astonished” if that were true.
He stated that the Conservative Party must unite behind the prime minister.
A few weeks ago, she was our choice for the Conservative Party. We must remain unified and rally around Liz Truss. Kwasi Kwarteng is our team.”
‘Government in meltdown’
Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change for the Labour Party, has accused the government of “taking people for fools” by asserting that the economic crisis is a global phenomenon.
“No other finance minister is returning from the IMF meetings on an early flight,” he told.
“In no other nation is the central bank rumored to be on an emergency buying binge. There is no other nation where a government’s economic policy is disintegrating.
“This is a collective breakdown on the part of the government, you know.” “The British people deserve so much better than what this government is subjecting the country to.”
When asked why Labour MPs supported the Conservatives’ reversal of the National Insurance increase earlier this week, Mr. Miliband responded, “We are opposed to raising taxes on regular people.”
“We oppose more than half of the provisions in the mini-budget,” he continued.
