Kate Andrews Kate Andrews

Truss says no to spending cuts. Here’s the caveat

The PM's comments in parliament won’t exactly calm the markets

Parliament TV

The mini-Budget was a spending spree. The ‘medium-term fiscal plan’ was meant to explain the funding. But what exactly is going to be in it? 

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were thought to have (finally) come to terms with the need to address the need for some restraint, after their mini-Budget led to market chaos which is yet to settle. Their fiscal statement – in other words, how they would fund their tax cuts – was moved forward by almost a month, to 31 October. Its contents were thought to include some major spending cuts, in a bid to convince markets that fiscal discipline still guides the Tory party.

If there are no public spending cuts in the Chancellor’s statement, it is not obvious what – if anything – he will announce

But is this really the plan? At today’s PMQs, the Prime Minister threw MPs (and markets) into further doubt about what’s really to come in the next fiscal statement.

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