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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Adam Robertson

Chancellor to make emergency statement TODAY to help stabilise market

CHANCELLOR Jeremy Hunt is set to fast-track billions of pounds worth of tax and spending measures from his debt plan. 

The Treasury will outline details of the plan on Monday – a fortnight earlier than expected. 

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Hunt insisted “nothing is off the table” and that he’d be asking every government department to find places to make savings. 

The move is designed to help reassure markets following the financial turmoil caused by the mini-Budget announcement. 

The announcement of the £18bn U-turn on corporation tax on Friday and the sacking of Hunt’s predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng did little to calm rising UK Government borrowing costs. 

The Treasury said the move – following talks between Hunt and Liz Truss – was designed to “ensure sustainable public finances underpin economic growth”. 

Following his statement, the Chancellor will address the House of Commons later on Monday.

Hunt effectively tore up Truss and Kwarteng’s previous economic strategy to cut taxes in an attempt to boost growth.

Instead, he warned taxes would have to go up while spending would rise less quickly than had previously been planned. 

Among the measures announced by Kwarteng (below) expected to be ditched are his promise to bring forward a 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax to April. 

Jeremy Hunt will make an emergency statement to try stabilise the marketKwasi Kwarteng was sacked as Chancellor amid economic chaos

The measures come as Truss continues to fight to hold on to her leadership, with three Conservative MPs already breaking ranks to call on her to go

At the weekend, US President Joe Biden criticised Truss’s economic vision, calling it a “mistake”. 

However, Hunt insisted the Prime Minister was still in charge. 

He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that voters could still put their faith in the Prime Minister. 

Hunt said: “She’s listened. She’s changed. She’s been willing to do that most difficult thing in politics, which is to change tack. 

“What we’re going to do is to show not just what we want but how we’re going to get there.”

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