The UK government has delayed its budget by more than two weeks, buying new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak some time to make difficult choices about how to tackle the country’s “profound economic crisis.”
Finance minister Jeremy Hunt will now deliver the government’s medium-term fiscal plan on November 17, according to a statement from the Treasury.
It had been scheduled for October 31, after the date was previously pulled forward by more than three weeks in a desperate attempt to reassure investors spooked by huge unfunded tax cuts promised by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Sunak, Britain’s third prime minister in seven weeks, took office on
Tuesday with a pledge to fix the “mistakes” Truss made.
He told lawmakers Wednesday that the government would have to take “difficult decisions to restore economic stability and confidence.”
Sunak said. “Leadership is not selling fairytales. It is confronting challenges and that is the leadership the British people will get from this government,” he added.
Truss’ “mini” budget of September 23 crashed the pound and caused a rout in the bond market, sending UK borrowing costs — including mortgage rates — soaring.
