Kwarteng flies home early to face UK budget storm
UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng is flying back early from meetings with finance chiefs in Washington, the Treasury said on Friday, amid reports of more U-turns over his uncosted budget that rocked markets. Kwarteng spent two days in Washington for the annual gathering of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and had been due to leave on Saturday. "He is on his way back. He has completed successful meetings and he is coming back to continue work on his medium-term fiscal plan" due on October 31, a Treasury spokesman said. Multiple media reports suggest Kwarteng will hold urgent talks with Prime Minister Liz Truss over another possible budget climbdown, having already abandoned a tax cut for the richest earners. Reports indicate Kwarteng could axe planned changes to corporation tax, which is levied on company profits. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's costly tax-slashing budget, delivered just three weeks ago, sparked markets chaos because of fears over ballooning state debt, with the pound tumbling to a record dollar low and bond yields surging. The turmoil subsided after the Bank of England jumped into bond markets to help protect financial stability, but its bond-buying drive ends later on Friday. "It's not unusual... to come back a day early from an international visit," trade minister Greg Hands told Sky News. "He's coming back for discussions with colleagues," said Hands, adding that Kwarteng had completed "extensive" meetings with world financial leaders, finance ministers and central bank governors. Kwarteng last month slashed tax and froze energy prices in a bid to boost Britain's battered economy and ease a cost-of-living crisis. But he was forced last week to axe his proposed income tax cut for the wealthy, faced with outrage as millions of ordinary Britons suffer from rocketing inflation. The economic and political crisis has meanwhile sparked questions over Kwarteng's future. Speaking in Washington on Thursday, the under-fire minister insisted that his job was safe, saying "I'm not going anywhere". (AFP)