15m
13 Oct 2022

Can Truss and Kwarteng survive economic turmoil – and is a U-turn imminent?

Political Editor

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has given his clearest indication yet that he’s preparing to make another U-turn on his mini-budget, endorsed by the Prime Minister Liz Truss.

In a series of interviews he refused to rule out ditching the corporation tax cut on which Liz Truss staked her campaign for the premiership.

Amid fevered speculation of a volte face, UK government bonds and the pound rallied. “Let’s see”, Kwasi Kwarteng said to one newspaper.

But the unpalatable truth is that a growing number of the prime minister’s own colleagues now see her as doomed either way: if she gives the markets what they want – to her own political cost or – if she doesn’t – to the detriment of the British economy.