Kwasi Kwarteng has unveiled a mini-budget that delivers billions of pound worth of tax cuts - including a surprise move to scrap the 45% top rate of income tax paid by the UK’s wealthiest.
The Chancellor announced sweeping moves intended to rev up the economy in the eagerly-awaited “fiscal event” on Friday morning.
The Government is dubbing it a “growth plan” at a time when the UK faces a cost-of-living crisis, recession, soaring inflation and climbing interest rates.
The Chancellor told MPs the planned rise to corporation tax would be cancelled as he announced the cap on banker bonuses would be scrapped.
He also announced that the basic rate of income tax would be cut to 19p in the pound from April 2023. And he said the 45% higher rate of income tax will be “abolished”.
Mr Kwarteng said his economic vision would “turn the vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth”.
But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the strategy amounts to an “admission of 12 years of economic failure” under successive Conservative governments.
The Labour MP described the Prime Minister and Mr Kwarteng as “two desperate gamblers in a casino chasing a losing run”.
