UK Finance Minister: "We Have Decided Not To Proceed With Scrapping The 45p Tax Rate"

UK Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng confirmed earlier reports, noting that his government will not go ahead with a plan to scrap a 45% rate of income tax.

Additional quotes

 

Our growth plan is a strong package.

The 45p rate was drowning out a strong package of intervention.

Along with PM, I decided best course was not to proceed with abolishing 45p rate.

Asked if he has considered resigning, he said, not at all.

We are focussed on getting away from a high tax route.

It has become clear the abolition of the 45p rate is a distraction from our mission to tackle the challenges facing the country.

We get it, we listened.

This will allow us to focus on delivering the major parts of our growth package.

It was an ambitious plan.

We have made lots of tough decisions.

Our medium term plan is going to come out towards the end of November.

I am very pleased we have decided not to proceed with scrapping the 45p tax rate.

I take responsibility for it.

 

Market reaction

GBP/USD has given away a part of the latest gains on Kwarteng’s confirmation, currently trading at 1.1200, still up 0.35% on the day.