An hour after the confirmation of the resignation of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, justified the decision to dismiss Kwasi Kwartengo with the “national interest”. “My priority is to guarantee the economic stability that our country needs. That is why I had to make the difficult decisions that I made today, ”she justified, at a press conference.
Despite this, he regretted “losing” Kwasi Kwarteng not only because he was a “great friend” but also because he believed he would help the British government put the country on the path to growth.
Truss assured that he maintains the mission of “raising the levels of economic growth” of the United Kingdom, but admitted that, “ultimately, it is necessary to guarantee economic stability”, for which he had to “act in the national interest”.
Of his successor in the portfolio, Jeremy Hunt, Truss said he was a very “experienced” person, both in Parliament and in executive functions, and someone with whom he “shares visions”.
Regarding the policy that the British Government will follow, the Prime Minister stressed that she wants to establish “an economy with low taxes” and “high wages”, convinced that what “people want is stability”.
For this reason, he stressed, “we act to help families with energy costs in the country”, but also during the Covid-19 pandemic. “I want a country with good jobs”, where new companies can be created and where “families can have a better life”, she reinforced.
Truss also acknowledged that this administration’s mini-budget advanced “faster than the markets expected.” He then assumed: “The way we are going to implement our mission has to change.”
“We need to act now to reassure markets about our fiscal discipline. That is why I have decided to maintain the IRC increase that was planned by the previous government (…). We will do what is necessary to ensure that the debt is decreasing, (…) the public sector will be more efficient (…) and spending will grow less than expected, “he revealed.
Kwasi Kwarteng was unexpectedly dismissed from the British government after only 38 days in office. It was the ruler himself who confirmed that he was fired by the prime minister after returning early from a visit to the United States.
“I was asked to resign and I accepted,” he wrote in the resignation letter, admitting that “the economic environment has changed rapidly” since the presentation of the growth plan on September 23 and that it is important that the government emphasize its commitment to discipline. fiscal. Truss, for her part, wrote in a letter “deeply” mourning the loss of Kwasi Kwarteng, blaming “extraordinarily difficult times” and thanking the former minister for “service to this country and tremendous friendship and support.”
The political crisis, just 38 days after the current government took office, was caused by the repercussions of the so-called “Growth Plan”, presented on September 23 by Kwarteng in parliament.
The plan delivered on some tax cuts promised by Truss during the Tory leadership election campaign, along with measures to freeze energy prices, but the lack of measures to balance public accounts was poorly received by financial markets. .
In the days that followed, the pound depreciated sharply and interest rates on British debt rose, as did interest rates on mortgage loans.
The Bank of England was forced to intervene in the bond market, which helped stabilize the pound and debt, but the British government’s plan was criticized by the IMF for the risk of exacerbating inflation, and Fitch and Standard and Poor’s downgraded it from stable. the rating of the United Kingdom to negative.
The finance minister had already been forced to advance the presentation of the “medium-term fiscal plan”, from November 23 to October 31. However, several Conservative Party MPs continued to push for measures to stabilize the economy and stem the loss of popularity in the polls to be announced earlier.
Some recent polls point to a Labor Party lead over the Conservatives of more than 25 percentage points.
Source: TSF
