The U.K. Finance Minister said on Monday that the government wouldn't be distracted from delivering on its plan to grow.
The Conservative Party's annual fall conference was held in the central England city ofBirmingham.
It has been a difficult experience. We need to concentrate on the task at hand. He said that we need to move forward and not be distracted. We need to get on with it. The public expects something from the government.
The U.K. government reversed a plan to scrap the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings over £150,000.
Even as the British pound dropped to an all-time low, mortgage deals were pulled from the market and U.K. government bonds began to sell off, Kwarteng was still defending the policy.
The plan put forward 10 days ago has caused a bit of turbulence. I'm aware of it. I'm aware of it. I want to focus on delivering the major parts of our growth package now that we've listened.
At a time when the country is facing a cost-of-living crisis, the proposed tax cut was seen as politically toxic.
Kwarteng said that they have listened.
The abolition of the 45p tax rate has become a distraction from the main task at hand. He said that the abolition of the 45p tax rate was not going to go ahead.
She said she could have done a better job of laying the ground for the announcements.
Economists and analysts were skeptical that the U.K. government's U-turn on tax cuts for the wealthy would alleviate market skittishness.
During the afternoon deals in London, the pound was up over 1%.
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Line chart with 1147 data points.The chart has 1 X axis displaying Time. Range: 2022-10-02 12:22:00 to 2022-10-03 12:22:00.The chart has 1 Y axis displaying values. Range: 1.105 to 1.135.End of interactive chart.
This report was contributed to by CNBC's JenniReid.
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