Britain’s new finance minister announced a comprehensive retreat on the UK government’s tax-and-spending plans on Monday in a frantic effort to calm jittery markets and restore the government’s credibility. Just four days into the job, Jeremy Hunt said he would reverse “almost all” tax measures announced three weeks ago by his predecessor. The stunning reversal would raise £32 billion , he said. A proposed cut to the basic rate of income tax from April 2023 has been postponed “indefinitely.
” “I disagree with the policy,” he said, adding that it was “up to Great Britain to make that judgment.” The Treasury said that Hunt met with the governor of the Bank of England and the head of the Debt Management Office on Sunday night to brief them on his plans. He’ll share more information with Parliament later Monday. Plans that have already started working their way through Parliament, including a cut to a tax on house purchases, will go ahead.