BBC News 14 October 2022
Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor, just weeks after he announced unfunded tax cuts that triggered financial turmoil- Kwarteng met PM Liz Truss at Downing Street a little earlier, after cutting short a US visit and flying back to London
- Truss will hold a news conference later, as speculation builds that the government could reverse more of the tax cuts announced in its mini-budget
- Earlier, a No 10 source told the BBC that Truss thought the chancellor was "doing an excellent job"
- The PM faces growing calls from within her party to rethink her economic plans, with one Tory MP telling the BBC: "It's checkmate, we're screwed”
Britain's Finance Minister Kwazi Kwarteng has been dismissed from office, as the BBC has just reported. Kwarteng is no longer finance minister, the network said. In the morning it became known that Kwarteng is returning today, a day earlier, to London from Washington. At the same time, the Times newspaper wrote that Prime Minister Liz Truss was due to dismiss the finance minister and remove parts of the package of fiscal measures presented at the end of September that provides for massive aid for energy bills and generous tax cuts, in an effort to withstand political and market pressures. Downing Street has confirmed that Truss, who has been in power for just 37 days, will hold a press conference later today.
Extraordinary press conference by Liz Truss with announcements on economic measures
An extraordinary press conference will be held in the afternoon by UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, under intense pressure to overturn the massive tax cuts she has announced, raising concerns about the stability of public finances.
According to estimates by British political editors, Ms. Truss will announce the reintroduction of the increase in the corporate tax rate from 19% to 25% from next April, a measure that was abolished in last month's mini-budget.
The Government has already taken back the abolition of the maximum income tax rate of 45%.
Kwarteng the 2nd Uk Minister with the shortest term of office
Kwarteng is the second UK minister with the shortest term on record. The minister with the shortest term, Iain Macleod, died of a heart attack 30 days after taking up the job in 1970.
As of 2019, the UK has had four ministers, including Nadhim Zahawi who served the third shortest term with 63 days during a short-lived reshuffle under Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid who served 204 days – the fourth shortest term in history.
RES/CNA/BBC
