Hunt to make emergency fiscal statement today
The new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will make an emergency statement today in the Commons outlining part of his planned fiscal plan, the full details of which will be announced on 31 October.
He will make a statement in the House of Commons at 3.30pm outlining, “measures from the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan that will support fiscal sustainability.”
The move - called a mini-Budget by some - is designed to calm the markets which remained in turmoil on Friday when the previous Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked and the planned scrapping of an increase to Corporation Tax was reversed.
The Treasury said the move – following talks over the weekend between Mr Hunt and new Prime Minister Liz Truss – was designed to, “ensure sustainable public finances underpin economic growth.”
Mr Hunt is expected to effectively rip up Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng’s previous economic strategy to cut taxes in an attempt to boost growth, which was set out in a mini-Budget on 23 September.
Over the weekend Mr Hunt warned that taxes would have to go up while spending would rise less quickly than had previously been planned.
Among the measures announced by Mr Kwarteng expected to be ditched are his promise to bring forward a 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax to April.
The news had an immediate effect on the bond market with the yields on UK government bonds dropping on Monday morning.
That was the effect the new Chancellor would have hoped for. The opposite happened on Friday with yields climbing during the day.
Yields on 30-year UK bonds hit 5.17% on 28 September in the aftermath of the mini-budget and ended Friday at 4.85%. Today's news has seen them slip slightly to 4.50%. However, that is still some way above the level they were the day before the mini-budget on 23 September - then they stood at 3.59%.
The pound has also strengthened to around $1.13 this morning, after falling around 2% on Friday to $1.12.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “The markets have reacted positively to Hunt’s expedited timeline, which alleviates some of the fiscal uncertainty, lifting the pound against the dollar and the euro. The FTSE 100 is trading flat with the banks, housebuilders and utilities outperforming while UK exporters suffer from the pound’s appreciation.”
She added: “However international investors remain cautious towards the UK with gilts and the pound still grappling with below normal trader appetite amid the fiscal uncertainty.”
The Chancellor will deliver the full details of his Medium-Term Fiscal Plan, alongside a forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, on 31 October.