Prime minister Liz Truss and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “behaved like two gamblers in a casino” over the UK economy, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said today.
Kwarteng was yesterday ousted by the new prime minister, making him the second shortest-running chancellor in the UK’s history.
Succeeding Kwarteng is Jeremy Hunt, who this morning singled out the cutting of the top rate tax for the country’s highest earners as the September mini-budget’s largest pitfall – which sent shockwaves across markets.
Speaking alongside Labour leader Kier Starmer at a regional conference in Barsnley today, Reeves said Kwarteng was not a “rogue chancellor” but a close ally of the prime minister.
In his speech at the conference, Starmer called Truss’ sacking of the chancellor during an economic crisis as “grotesque chaos”.
“The damage the Conservatives have done to the economy means things are going to be really tough,” he went on.
“No doubt we will hear plenty of laughable excuses in the coming days. After 12 years of stagnation, that’s all [Truss’] party has left.
“But even they know she can’t fix the mess she has created.”
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