In an attempt to appease financial markets that have been in turmoil for three weeks, Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor of the exchequer on Friday and scrapped parts of their controversial economic package.
"The thing that people want, the markets want, the country needs now, is stability," Hunt said."No chancellor can control the markets. But what I can do is show that we can pay for our tax and spending plans and that is going to need some very difficult decisions on both spending and tax." Hunt is due to announce the government's medium-term budget plans on Oct. 31, in what will be a key test of its ability to show it can restore its economic policy credibility. He said further changes to Truss's plans were possible.
"Some taxes will not be cut as quickly as people want, and some taxes will go up. So it's going to be difficult," he said, adding that he would sit down with Treasury officials on Saturday before meeting Truss on Sunday to go through the plans.Kwarteng's Sept. 23 fiscal statement prompted a backlash in financial markets that was so ferocious the Bank of England had to intervene to prevent pension funds being caught up in the chaos as borrowing costs surged.
It was also a mistake, Hunt said, to"fly blind" and produce the tax plans without allowing the independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, to check the figures. However, she might not get that chance. During the leadership contest, Truss won support from less than a third of Conservative lawmakers and has appointed her backers since taking office - alienating those who support her rivals.
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