LONDON: New UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt scrapped Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic plan and scaled back her vast energy subsidy on Monday, launching one of the biggest U-turns in British fiscal policy to stem a dramatic loss of investor confidence.
Tasked with halting a bond market rout that has raged since the government announced huge unfunded tax cuts on September 23, Hunt has now reversed all of the policies that helped Truss to become elected as prime minister just under six weeks ago.
Her spokesman denied that Hunt was now running the country after his new strategy, which will also include spending cuts, sent the pound soaring against the dollar and government bond prices to start to recover from a three-week pounding. “I remain extremely confident about the UK’s long-term economic prospects as we deliver our mission to go for growth,” Hunt said in a televised clip. –Agencies
