Government concern over market confidence had clearly been rising over the weekend following the removal of the Bank of England backstop as new chancellor Jeremy Hunt prepared the ground for today’s emergency statement before markets even opened this morning.
However, even seasoned economic commentators were shocked by the scale of today's U-turn on measures announced just a few weeks ago by Prime Minister Liz Truss and ex-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. This included scrapping almost all the tax measures set out in the Growth Plan that have not been legislated for in parliament. In another surprise move, Hunt also announced a significant pullback on Truss's flagship energy plan, and unveiled a Treasury-led review on how to support households and businesses after April 2023. There was a striking use of language in a statement about an existing gov...
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