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Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have been making headlines this week
(Image credit: Dylan Martinez/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Prime Minister Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are refusing calls for a U-turn after their radical tax-cutting “mini-budget” plunged the markets into turmoil this week.

The government’s controversial fiscal strategy, which included plans to implement some £45bn worth of tax cuts, prompted the pound to fall to an all-time low against the dollar and raised the prospect of further interest rate hikes from the Bank of England (BoE) to deal with spiralling inflation.

In a highly unusual move, the BoE was forced to announce a £65bn emergency intervention to avert an economic crisis in the wake of the mini-budget, buying billions of pounds’ worth of government bonds to prevent people’s pensions being put at risk.

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Truss defended the plans in a round of broadcast interviews on BBC local radio yesterday, describing the mini-budget as “decisive action” that had to be taken in order to “get the economy moving”.

But both Truss and Kwarteng today met the government’s independent economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, which has demanded a “rethink” of the government’s fiscal strategy, according to The Times.

Meanwhile, Labour is enjoying its largest poll lead since the Tony Blair years, after a YouGov survey found that 54% of voters would back Labour in a snap general election with only 21% supporting the Tories. The 33-point lead is the party’s highest in almost three decades.

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