Mini-budget an ‘International Embarrassment’ Says NatWest Boss

THE GUARDIAN: UK’s reputation ‘scarred’, Howard Davies tells staff, as he also warns of government plans to boost competitiveness

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng at the Conservative party conference in October 2022. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA
The chairman of NatWest has told staff he “never felt so embarrassed internationally” as he did at the International Monetary Fund meeting in the wake of the UK’s disastrous mini-budget, as he warned about government plans to boost the competitiveness of City firms.

Sir Howard Davies told hundreds of employees at NatWest – which is still 48% owned by the state – that ex-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s package of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy in late September, which triggered a market meltdown, caused “quite a significant problem” and “scarring” of the UK’s reputation, according to a recording reviewed by the Guardian. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent | Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Donations to Tory party slump 40% in three months: Just under £3m collected from July to September, as Labour takes more for first time in over a year with £4.7m »

I Was a Conservative Peer – Tory Voters Will Not Tolerate Liz Truss’s Bungs to the Rich

THE GUARDIAN: You don’t have to be a socialist to find UK levels of poverty intolerable – but Liz Truss lacks the empathy to see it

Liz Truss. ‘The public reaction to Trussonomics is at a level that the woman herself probably cannot grasp.’ Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters
Subtlety does not feature large on the short list that is the Liz Truss skill set. She had been campaigning for the Tory leadership long before Boris Johnson was forced to vacate it. In May 2019, as Theresa May sat uncomfortably in No 10, a newspaper profile declared of Truss: “She’s not so much a dark horse as one that has painted itself blue and wrapped itself in flashing neon lights.”

Last weekend she used that same newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, to laud the tax cuts launched on Friday and assure the country she would be “unapologetic” in pursuing a strategy that was already frightening the markets on which its success depends.

Truss’s single-mindedness won her the Tory leadership. Even though a majority of Tory MPs did not favour her, she directed her sledgehammer campaign at that self-selecting small band, Conservative party members, and they rejoiced in her promise of drastic cuts to tax and regulations. » | Patience Wheatcroft | Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Patience Wheatcroft is a journalist and crossbench peer (formerly Conservative)

Pound Hits Fresh 37-year Low after Mini-budget Rocks Markets

THE GUARDIAN: Odds of sterling hitting parity with dollar jump, as analysts say UK bond market ‘getting smoked’ by giveaway

A protester outside the Houses of Parliament as the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled his mini budget on Friday. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/REX/Shutterstock
The pound has hit a new 37-year low after the bonanza of tax cuts and spending measures in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget threatened to undermine confidence in the UK.

Sterling fell to $1.077 in early trading when Asia-Pacific markets opened after the weekend, closer to parity with the US dollar.

Chris Weston, the head of research at the brokerage firm Pepperstone, said the pound was “the whipping boy” of the G10 foreign exchange market, while the UK bond market was “getting smoked” thanks to Kwarteng’s £45bn debt-financed tax-cutting package.

“The funding requirement needed to pay for the mini-budget means either we need to see far better growth or higher bond yields to incentive capital inflows,” Weston said. Targets that the pound could fall below $1.05, for the first time ever, were being “liberally thrown around”, he added. » | Graeme Wearden | Sunday, September 25, 2022

Ha! Ha! Ha!. I could say: I told you so! We deserve all the pain we get! No! I am not being unpatriotic; on the contrary, I am being extremely patriotic. The dimwits of this country need to be brought to their senses asap.

This country is a medium-ranking European nation. Britannia no longer rules the waves. And probably never will again. Are we important as a nation? Of course we are! But we are no longer an imperial power; our Empire is gone, never to be resurrected. Get over it! These days, we need Europe; and Europe needs us.

People like Nigel Farage are not patriotic; au contraire, they are unpatriotic troublemakers. In fact, where is Nigel Farage when you need him most. He belongs in the stocks! He has caused so many Brits so much unnecessary pain with his vacuous talk. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

This country belongs in the European Union. The absurd policy of Brexit needs to be reversed forthwith. – © Mark Alexander

The Guardian View on the Tory Trickle Up Policies: Redistributing to the Rich

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: Kwasi Kwarteng thinks Britain needs to give millionaires huge handouts and concrete over the country. He’s wrong

Kwasi Kwarteng came to the Commons determined to bury the politics of redistribution. But the Conservative chancellor revived it with a “ mini-budget” that attached rocket boosters on to bankers’ pay, gave millionaires a £40,000 handout by abolishing the top rate of tax and cut levies for businesses and buy-to-let landlords. It is in a cost of living crisis that Mr Kwarteng has chosen to show his true colours. Ordinary families are choosing between heating and eating. The nation’s public services are falling apart. The chancellor’s medicine for such ailments is to shower money – and to loosen regulatory safeguards – on the City, energy companies and housebuilders. » | Editorial | Friday, September 23, 2022

Truss/Kwarteng: A Reckless Economic Gamble Certain to Fail

Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have told us that their priority is to grow the economy. They plan to do this by borrowing huge amounts of money whilst cutting taxes which will inevitably benefit the rich more than those in desperate need. This is in addition to the £130 billion which they are borrowing in order to protect the profits of energy companies as they reduce the prices charged to consumers.

Inflation is at the highest it has been for several decades, interest rates are going up and individuals and businesses are being squeezed ever more. The NHS is in crisis with around 6 million waiting for treatment.

More and more families are depending upon food banks as they face an approaching winter when many of them will be unable to afford to heat their homes.

To reduce taxes thus benefitting the rich at a time of such crisis is a reckless and stupid gamble which will not work.

Opposition to the government is increasing and will only be inflamed by this absurd government policy.

It seems highly likely that this will lead to social unrest and a breakdown of law and order in the coming months

Pound Plummets as UK Government Announces Biggest Tax Cuts in 50 Years

Don't call it a budget - but it is the biggest budget intervention we've seen in decades, largely at odds with what twelve years of Conservative Chancellors have told us.

The Office of Budget Responsibility was stopped from publishing forecasts it had been working on, so the test of whether it is responsible was largely left to the financial markets.

The Chancellor claims he's unleashing "the power of the private sector".

Kwarteng Accused of Reckless Mini-budget for the Rich as Pound Plummets

THE GUARDIAN: Strategy of sweeping tax cuts gets hostile reception from markets and economic thinktanks, leaving some Tory MPs aghast

A screenshot taken from the accompanying video.
Kwasi Kwarteng has been accused of delivering a reckless mini-budget for the rich after his £45bn tax-cutting package sent the pound crashing to its lowest level against the dollar in 37 years.

In a high-risk strategy designed to revive Britain’s stagnant economy, the new chancellor announced more than £400bn of extra borrowing over the coming years to fund the biggest giveaway since Tony Barber’s ill-fated 1972 budget.

Kwarteng said tax cuts worth more than £55,000 annually to someone earning £1m a year were part of a new direction for the economy and were designed to help boost growth to 2.5% a year. Some Labour MPs described them as a “class war”. With video » | Larry Elliott and Rowena Mason | Friday, September 23, 2022

This is capitalism at its most hideous! Kwasi Kwarteng has shown us the true face of the Tory party! These disgusting people need to be kicked out of office asap! There is capitalism and there is capitalism. This kind of capitalism disgusts any decent soul. It is inhumane and unChristian. To use Margaret Thatcher’s own words: No! No! No! – © Mark Alexander

Pound sinks as investors question huge tax cuts: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as financial markets reacted to the biggest tax cutting moves in 50 years. »

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng Have Made a Declaration of Class War

THE GUARDIAN: This unofficial budget is morally indefensible, economically reckless and so risky it suggests a political death wish

Taking from those who have least, lavishing gifts on those who have most.’ Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng on a visit to Berkeley Modular in Kent. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/AP
She makes Margaret Thatcher look like a moderate and Ronald Reagan seem positively wet. Liz Truss has embarked on an ideological project so extreme that the de facto budget announced by her chancellor today amounts to a declaration of class war. It was a reverse Robin Hood: taking from those who have least, lavishing gifts on those who have most. It is morally indefensible, economically reckless and so politically risky as to suggest a death wish.

Trussonomics rests on a simple article of faith: that by rewarding the already wealthy, life will improve for everyone else. Trickle-down economics, they called it back in the 1980s, and it didn’t work then. Now it’s back in a form more stark, more extravagant, than even its most ardent apostles ever dared contemplate.

The generosity towards the amply blessed was breathtaking. Kwasi Kwarteng’s totemic move was the removal of the cap on bankers’ bonuses – as if the number one problem confronting Britain today was that bankers aren’t rich enough. It’ll be Cristal magnums all round in the City, obviously, but Labour HQ should also raise a glass: they’ve just been handed an attack line that cannot fail. The Conservative predecessors of Truss and Kwarteng had no principled objection to letting bankers receive telephone-number bonuses, but held off because they knew the optics were so screamingly awful. The new duo has no such restraint.

And so they have delivered the biggest tax cuts in half a century, outstripping the landmark Nigel Lawson budget of 1988 – and their largesse is aimed squarely at the top. Kwarteng decided it was those in the highest tax bracket who needed help, so he abolished the top rate altogether. That will hand an average £10,000 to the highest-earning 600,000 people in the country: literally the one per cent. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, September 23, 2022

Liz Truss makes Margaret Thatcher look like the fairy godmother! Divisive politics like this could eventually well lead to a revolution. Even tolerant Brits have their limits! Could Tory policies like this—giving the already super-privileged even more privileges—lead even to Britain overthrowing the monarchy? The French did it in 1789, declaring the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. It is very difficult to see how we Brits could declare the same here! In the UK, there is liberté for the super-priviliged, there is certainly no égalité and where there are such class divisions, there can certainly be no fraaternité, either.

It is high time for this country to call time on giving the already super-privileged yet more privileges. A well-run economy, even a capitalist economy, should be, must be run for the benefit of all. I believe it is true to say that this country has more food banks than it has Starbucks outlets! How can it be morally justifiable to pursue such shameless economic policies when so many people have to go to food banks in order to put food on the table for their children? What we need is more food for our children, not more champagne for our bankers!

Once upon a time, when I was young, I was so proud to call myself British. These days, not so much. Moreover, we Brits were spoken about in the same breath as fairness and fair play. No longer, I fear. This country has become synonymous with class division, unfairness, greed and selfishness.

With policies like these put forward like this by Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss, it is easier to feel ashamed to be British than it is to feel proud. These are , indeed, sad times. – © Mark Alexander

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. – KJB Matthew 13:12

Pound Crashes as Markets Lose Confidence in Government

A screenshot taken from the accomanying video.
THE GUARDIAN: This is turning into an absolute rout on the pound, as the markets give a scathing verdict to Kwasi Kwarteng’s unfunded tax cuts and extra spending.

Having dropped through $1.10 earlier this afternoon, sterling has continued to crash….. all the way down to a new 37-year low of $1.09.

The pound has lost 3.5 cents today, cratering by 3% – on track for its worst day since the market panic of March 2020 when the pandemic hit. With video » | Graeme Wearden | Friday, September 23, 2022

Kwasi, the quasi chancellor! Kwarteng’s economics is already being shown up for what it truly is: voodoo economics. – © Mark Alexander

Pound sinks as investors question huge tax cuts: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as financial markets reacted to the biggest tax cutting moves in 50 years. »

Pound Sinks as Markets React to Mini-budget

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BBC: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as markets react to the biggest tax cutting budget in 50 years.

UK stocks also slid after Kwasi Kwarteng outlined a series of tax cuts and economic measures in a massive shake-up of the country's finances.

The pound dropped by nearly 2% against the dollar, putting it close to $1.10.

Sterling has been falling in recent weeks, partly down to the strength of the US dollar. However, sterling also fell against the euro on Friday, with the pound down more than 1% at €1.12.

Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 of major shares fell to its lowest level for more than two months. » | Noor Nanji, Business reporter, BBC News | Friday, September 23, 2022

Kwarteng’s voodoo economics spooks markets. – © Mark Alexander

'Brown Is Like a Drunk Who Lost Family Silver Playing Roulette': Boris Johnson's Extraordinary Attack on PM
MAIL Online: The Mayor of London launched an extraordinary personal attack on Gordon Brown's handling of the financial crisis today.

Boris Johnson accused the Prime Minister of behaving like a drunk taking a "frantic and unprecedented gamble" with the economy.

"He is like some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roulette, and who now decides to double up by betting the house as well," the Mayor said.

His attack came as City figures warned that the measures unveiled in the mini-budget posed a grave threat to the future prosperity of London.

One said the new 45 per cent tax rate on earnings above £150,000 would trigger a disastrous "brain drain" of the talent drawn to London during the boom years.

In an article in the London Evening Standard today, Mr Johnson's director of strategy, Anthony Browne, writes: "Alistair Darling has done far more to redistribute wealth here than anywhere else... It is almost as though the budget is the revenge of England on the affluent of Kensington and Chelsea.

"Even at first glance, London has little to cheer from this budget. Whatever the macro-economic arguments about a need for a fiscal stimulus to stave off recession, for the capital this is not really a spend now, pay later budget."

The Mayor described the Prime Minister as a "manic meddler" who was desperately trying to boost the economy to improve his own electoral fortunes.

He accused Mr Brown of treating Londoners like "a bunch of overweight and exhausted laboratory rats" who he hoped would do his bidding. >>> By Jonathan Prynn and Pipa Crerar | November 25, 2008

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