Starmer urges reversal of mini-Budget as Kwarteng brings forward fiscal plan

Keir Starmer has urged the Conservatives to reverse the “kamikaze mini-Budget” as Kwasi Kwarteng told Tory backbenchers today that he will bring forward the government’s “medium-term fiscal plan” from November to the end of October.

In a letter to the Tory MP and chairman of the Treasury select committee Mel Stride, the Chancellor said the spending and borrowing plan would be announced on October 31st rather than the previously promised date of November 23rd.

“I’m pleased that they brought forward this date to begin the process but what I want to see, and what I would do now, is reverse that kamikaze mini-Budget – that’s got to be reversed,” the Labour leader said today.

“We need to have a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies to pay or help to pay for the energy price freeze. And what that will do, and most important of all, is to stabilise the economy because this chaotic, irresponsible approach is all of the government’s own making.”

The Chancellor is expected to use the “medium-term fiscal plan”, alongside the release of fresh forecasts for the economy and public finances from the Office for Budget Responsibility, to reveal how the Conservatives will balance the books after promising more than £40bn in unfunded tax cuts in the mini-Budget.

The move to bring forward the update comes amid growing pressure on the new Liz Truss administration. She and Kwarteng announced last week that the government would be abandoning its plan, unveiled in the mini-Budget, to abolish the 45% rate of income tax on earnings over £150,000 after widespread criticism.

The Prime Minister is also facing a Tory backbench rebellion over plans to enact a below inflation rise in benefits, and is reportedly considering another U-turn. Research has suggested that the move could push a further 450,000 into poverty.

Truss and Kwarteng caused confusion last week after government sources briefed journalists that the Chancellor would bring forward the fiscal statement to October, only for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to contradict this a day later.

Kwarteng told GB News that there had been no change, saying: “People have been reading the runes and the pauses, it’s going to be the 23rd.” Treasury sources, however, subsequently clarified that the statement would be brought forward and said he had been waiting to officially announce the change of date in parliament.

The pound crashed to the lowest level to date against the dollar and government borrowing costs soared in the wake of the tax-cutting plans unveiled by Kwarteng in his fiscal statement last month. The measures announced also included axing the planned rise in corporation tax and scrapping the cap on bankers’ bonuses.