The Conservatives and Labour have set out starkly opposing plans on taxes, with Tory chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng promising yet more cuts, and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer pledging a return to a higher rate of income tax for top earners.
Mr Kwarteng came under fire this week for his plan to cut the top rate of income tax, part of a raft of tax cuts amounting to £45 billion.
He said: "We’ve got to have a much more front-footed approach to growth and that’s what my Friday statement was all about. If we can get some of the reforms, if we get business back on its feet, we can get this country moving and we can grow our economy, and that’s what my focus is 100 per cent about."
Sir Keir added: "I do not think that the choice to have tax cuts for those that are earning hundreds of thousands of pounds is the right choice when our economy is struggling the way it is, working people are struggling in the way they are... that is the wrong choice." But despite the pound's slump and the public polling, Mr Kwarteng – speaking after his mini-budget was delivered to MPs – said Friday was a "very good day for the UK".
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