Jeremy Hunt has said he regrets the turbulence caused by Liz Truss's mini-budget but he does not believe it inflicted long-term economic damage
When Ms Truss announced a raft of unfunded tax cuts in September, it contributed to the financial chaos which sent the markets into freefall, the value of the pound plummeting, mortgage rates soaring and forced the Bank of England to intervene to stop pension funds collapsing.
This ultimately led to her downfall as Mr Hunt was drafted in to reverse almost all the economic policies that won her the Tory leadership election triggered by Boris Johnson's resignation.Mr Hunt declined to apologise for the turmoil, saying"actions speak louder than words". "I think we have demonstrated that we think what happened was wrong. We've corrected it and we've put the country back on the right track," he said., littered with stealth taxes and curbs on government spending amounting to £55bn in an attempt to plug the black hole in the public finances.
The measures will see around 55% of households worse off, according to the Treasury's own analysis, while the independent Office for Budget Responsibility warnedbut insisted his tax hikes were not"just misery for misery sake".He repeated his insistence that the problems facing the UK economy are global, as he dismissed forecasts about the hit to trade caused by Brexit.
"Brexit is a choice that Britain as a country made. And whether we will make a success of it or not is a choice that we now have to make.Mr Hunt was speaking in Birmingham after meeting apprentices workingSome Conservative MPs have spoke out against the expensive project, with senior backbencher Esther McVey saying she won't back his tax rises unless the project is scrapped."We aren't going to compromise on the really big projects that make a difference to our economy.
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