UK’s new finance minister scraps tax cuts, scales back energy subsidy

London, October 17

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The United Kingdom’s new 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 Sept 23, Hunt has now reversed all of the policies that helped Truss to become elected as prime minister just under six weeks ago.

“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. Under the new plan, most of Truss’s 45 billion pounds of unfunded tax cuts will go and a two-year energy support scheme for households and businesses — expected to cost over £100 billion — will run until April. Hunt said the planned tax cut would raise £32 billion ($36 billion) every year. — Agencies