UK’s Kwarteng promises to bring public spending under control

THE British government will make a new “commitment” to bring public spending under control following a week of financial turmoil, British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng said in an op-ed in The Telegraph on Friday.

Kwarteng vowed to publish a “credible” plan in November to reduce debt.

He also doubled down on his mini-budget, writing that while some measures may not be universally popular “we had no other choice.”

Kwarteng unveiled a string of lower taxes last week that were, unusually, not accompanied by forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Sterling fell to a record low against the US dollar and the sell-off led the Bank of England to intervene with emergency bond-buying to protect pension funds from partial collapse.

In his article in the newspaper, Kwarteng wrote: “The Medium-Term Fiscal Plan will set out a credible plan to get debt falling as a share of GDP in the medium term, with new fiscal rules and a commitment to spending discipline. And this will be alongside a full forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.”

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British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Friday she recognised there had been some financial market disruption following the government’s so-called mini budget and that it was important monetary and fiscal policy are coordinated. REUTERS