Tag: Jeremy Hunt

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Hunt warns of ‘tough road ahead’ for UK economy

Jeremy Hunt

The Chancellor said the GDP numbers highlighted the need to get inflation under control and government debt falling…reports Asian Lite News

UK Chancellor of Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, on Friday warned of a ‘tough road ahead’ after it was revealed that the UK’s economy went into reverse in the third quarter, according to media report.

Hunt suggested he is engaged in a damage limitation exercise after a 0.2 per cent fall in GDP between July and September, saying his Autumn Statement aims to make any recession “quicker and shallower”, Daily Mail reported.

The figure was not as bad as feared, after the Bank of England and analysts pencilled in a 0.5 per cent contraction for UK plc in the three months under review.

However, it suggests that the UK might already be in a downturn, technically defined as two consecutive quarters of decline, Daily Mail reported.

Although the second quarter showed marginal growth of 0.2 per cent, the Bank of England warned last week that the country risks falling into the longest downturn in a century.

The Chancellor said the GDP numbers highlighted the need to get inflation under control and government debt falling.

But he could have been given some wriggle room as a worse outcome could have increased the pressure on the public finances.

The fall was driven mainly by manufacturing, with the powerhouse services sector largely flat.

September was particularly dire with a 0.6 per cent decline in the month – partly due to lower activity amid mourning for the Queen, Daily Mail reported.

That was partly offset by the single-month figure for August being revised up from a 0.1 per cent contraction to 0.1 per cent growth.

ALSO READ-Hunt plans £10 billion tax rule changes

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‘Truss still in charge’

Hunt claimed that the Prime Minister had changed, as he defended her credibility as leader…reports Asian Lite News

Jeremy Hunt has insisted that Liz Truss is still in charge despite her premiership looking increasingly in peril, as he warned of further public spending cuts and failed to rule out more U-turns on her disastrous mini-budget, a media report said.

The new UK chancellor, now widely seen as the most powerful man in the government since he took over from the sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, has buried a series of flagship policies that brought Truss to power, The Guardian reported.

“The Prime Minister is in charge,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, even though her authority has been seriously undermined by her decision to allow him to tear up her economic agenda in a bid to calm the markets and mutinous Tory MPs, the report said.

Hunt claimed that the Prime Minister had changed, as he defended her credibility as leader.

Asked why people should trust what she or the government said, he replied: “Because she’s listened. She’s changed. She’s been willing to do that most difficult thing in politics, which is to change tack. What we’re going to do is to show not just what we want, but how we’re going to get there.”

However, the former health secretary appeared to rule out any future tilt at the Tory leadership, saying his desire to lead the party had been “clinically excised” thanks to previous failed attempts.

“I think having run two leadership campaigns, and by the way failed in both of them, the desire to be leader has been clinically excised from me,” he said. “I want to be a good chancellor. It’s going to be very, very difficult. But that’s what I’m focusing on.”

Hunt and Truss are meeting in her Chequers residence on Sunday with tax rises and spending cuts on the horizon, and the new chancellor admitting that “difficult decisions” are coming over the next two weeks, before the new budget on October 31.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he said, as he promised to reassure the markets, The Guardian reported.

Truss has already been forced into a humiliating climbdown on her plans for a top 45p rate tax cut and a freeze in corporation tax, which will now go from 19 per cent to 25 per cent.

ALSO READ-Hunt admits to ‘mistakes’ in budget

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Jeremy Hunt appointed UK’s new Chancellor

Jeremy Hunt

Kwarteng has been sacked after his disastrous mini-budget caused market turmoil, a bailout of pension funds and rising mortgage rates, The Guardian reported…reports Asian Lite News

Jeremy Hunt has been appointed Britain’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer, replacing Kwasi Kwarteng.

The former Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership contender will be the fourth Chancellor this year, the Guardian reported.

Kwarteng has confirmed he was asked “to stand aside” as Chancellor.

In a letter to Prime Minister Liz Truss, Kwarteng wrote: “You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted.”

“When you asked me to serve as your Chancellor, I did so in full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult, with rising global interest rates and energy prices. However, your vision of optimism, growth and change was right.

“As I have said many times in the past weeks, following the status quo was simply not an option. For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation that must still change if this country is to succeed,” he wrote.

Kwarteng has been sacked after his disastrous mini-budget caused market turmoil, a bailout of pension funds and rising mortgage rates, The Guardian reported.

Kwarteng is leaving the position after just six weeks in the job, despite Truss having also signed off an array of unfunded tax cuts in the mini-budget last month.

He had returned early from the International Monetary Fund meeting in the US to discuss further U-turns in the budget, after a move to drop the 45p tax rate failed to calm the economic situation.

ALSO READ-UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng sacked