‘Fantastic’: What Truss’s allies said about budget that crashed UK economy

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https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/liz-truss-kwasi-kwarteng-mini-budget-think-tanks/

[Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘mini-budget’] announcements were cheered on by a group of secretive think tanks closely connected to Liz Truss and her advisers. After years of lobbying, a Conservative government had finally adopted their proposals to scrap the top rate of income tax, remove the cap on bankers’ bonuses, shelve a planned rise in corporation tax, and pledge a fresh crackdown on unions.

The Adam Smith Institute, where Truss’s political secretary Sophie Jarvis was head of government affairs, said the plans were “a welcome first step to getting the British economy back on track”.

The mood was particularly buoyant at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), whose director general Mark Littlewood greeted the announcement by claiming: “This isn’t a trickle-down budget – it’s a boost-up budget.”

None of the think tanks discloses its funders, but the IEA has received donations from BP and ExxonMobil and, along with the Adam Smith Institute and the Centre for Policy Studies, the tobacco industry. The IEA and the Adam Smith Institute have also received millions of dollars from US funders of climate denial.

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Jake Berry apology slammed for being meaningless

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https://leftfootforward.org/2022/10/jake-berry-apology-slammed-for-being-meaningless/

Talking to Sky News during the Conservative Party Conference, the MP for Rossendale and Darwen said: “People know that when their bills arrive, they can either cut their consumption or they can get a higher salary, higher wages, go out there and get that new job.

“That’s the approach the government is taking so households can afford their bills,” said Berry, as he defended the tax cuts for the rich made in the mini budget.

‘Living on another planet’

The comments prompted backlash, labelled ‘out of touch and ‘crass’, as the MP’s name trended on social media. UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said the government was “living on another planet.”

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OBR forecasts likely to show £60bn-£70bn hole after Kwarteng’s mini-budget

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/07/obr-forecasts-likely-to-show-60bn-70bn-hole-after-kwartengs-mini-budget

Kwasi Kwarteng has been handed independent forecasts on the state of the UK finances that are expected to show a hole of more than £60bn left by his sweeping tax cuts and a sharply slowing growth outlook.

Sir Charlie Bean, a ex-member of the independent watchdog and a former Bank of England deputy governor, said the document would probably show a large shortfall for the exchequer.

“It will be in the order of £60bn to £70bn relative to its previous forecasts,” he said, adding that Kwarteng would face three options: further U-turns on his tax-cutting plans, deep cuts to public spending, or risking the ire of already rattled financial markets by substantially adding to the national debt.

“What he’ll be confronted with, and I don’t think to be honest most observers and MPs have really woken up to this yet, is the extent to which the public finances has deteriorated since the spring,” Bean said.

Continue ReadingOBR forecasts likely to show £60bn-£70bn hole after Kwarteng’s mini-budget

Liz Truss’s chief of staff flees across hotel after being asked about FBI probe

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dizzy: This suggests that he’s not a witness

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/liz-trusss-chief-staff-flees-28179068

Last month The Mirror reported that Mr Fullbrook, who is married to former Tory MP Lorraine Fullbrook, was interviewed as a witness in the US Department of Justice and FBI investigation this year.

In April, the bureau approached Britain’s National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police to help secure his attendance for a formal interview, although he is not accused of having any knowledge of the plot.

He agreed after he was approached by Scotland Yard with his company subpoenaed and forced to hand over thousands of sensitive emails.

Continue ReadingLiz Truss’s chief of staff flees across hotel after being asked about FBI probe