Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has been accused of “betting the house” on trickle-down economics after a “Robin Hood in reverse” Budget that massively ramped up state borrowing to deliver the biggest tax cuts in a generation to the richest in society.
After Mr Kwarteng abolished the top 45p rate of income tax and reversed the 1.25 per cent rise in national insurance contributions, independent economists said that almost half of his £45bn cuts would go to the top 5 per cent of earners.
His package – requiring £72.4bn of additional borrowing at a time of rising interest rates – spooked the markets, with the pound falling to a 37-year low against the dollar and the FTSE 100 crashing down to below the 7,000 mark for the first time since June.
