Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said he is “happy to own the humiliation” after his mini-Budget sent the City reeling, but refused to apologise to the nation and to Tory MPs threatening to rebel against his tax plans.
Earlier today, Mr Kwarteng performed a screeching u-turn on his proposal to cut the top rate of tax for the highest earners.
Posting to Twitter hours before he had been due to defend the plans at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Kwarteng said the plans to abolish the 45p tax band had “become a distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing our country.”
The chancellor’s proposals were vehemently criticised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and resulted in a £65 billion emergency intervention by the Bank of England to restore order.
Determined to press on with business, Mr Kwarteng also confirmed minutes later that public services face further cuts of up to £18bn a year.
“I think it’s a matter of good practice and really important that we stick within the envelope of the CSR [the Comprehensive Spending Review],” he told BBC Radio 4.
