The U.K.’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has scrapped the majority of the £45 billion previously announced unfunded tax cuts in an emergency statement on the mini-budget.
Hunt pulled back the government’s energy price guarantee, which was due to support households and businesses for two years. It will now remain universal until April next year, so that it will cost taxpayers “significantly less than planned.”
He said that a Treasury-led review will be created to look into how people can be supported from April onwards.
Bond yields on the 30-year gilt
TMBMKGB-30Y,
— which the Bank of England was buying last week and terminated on Friday — as well as the 10-year
TMBMKGB-10Y,
fell sharply on Monday in response to Hunt’s statement.
The British pound
GBPUSD,
rose 0.37% to $1.1285 against the U.S dollar.
The chancellor also threw out plans to cut the basic rate of income tax to 19% from 20%.
“It is not right to borrow to fund this tax cut,” he said.
See also: Who is Jeremy Hunt? Meet the new U.K. chancellor
The Treasury will also not process with the planned cut to corporation tax and dividend tax rates.
“We will no longer be proceeding with the cuts to dividend tax rates, the reversal of off-payroll working reforms, the new VAT-free shopping scheme for non-UK visitors or the freeze on alcohol duty rates,” he said.
