Kwasi Kwarteng did not commit to nor rule out a U-turn on corporation tax, despite growing pressure to abandon even more parts of the recent mini-budget which caused market turmoil.
The Chancellor previously said he was "totally focused" on delivering his announced tax-cutting plans, aimed at increasing UK economic growth, but in comments to the Telegraph newspaper, he was less definitive on his plans.
When asked about the expectation from financial markets that the Government could ditch the plan not to increase corporation tax in order to demonstrate a commitment to balancing the books, he reportedly said: “Let’s see.” Earlier reports suggested talks were under way between No 10 and the Treasury on abandoning elements of the £43 billion tax-cutting plan, including the commitment to axe the planned increase in corporation tax.
Downing Street said “work is ongoing between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, as you’d expect, ahead of the medium-term fiscal plan” but a spokeswoman refused to be drawn on the nature of the discussions or the possible scrapping of the corporation tax commitment.
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