Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has bowed to pressure and brought forward publication of the government’s spending plans, it was confirmed on Monday.
The chancellor was due to publish his medium-term fiscal plan on 23 November, nearly two months after his controversial mini-budget caused the pound to plummet and bond yields to rise.
Around £45bn of borrowing-funded tax cuts were announced in the mini-budget, but Kwarteng did not include either spending or funding plans.
He also opted against publishing the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecasts alongside the mini-budget, further adding to the turmoil in financial markets.
The government initially insisted the medium-term fiscal plan and the OBR’s forecasts would not be brought forward, despite the ensuing market chaos.
But in a letter to Mel Stride, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, dated 10 October, Kwarteng confirmed both the fiscal plan and OBR forecasts would now be published on 31 October.
“I have previously written to inform you that an economic and fiscal forecast will be published alongside the medium-term fiscal plan on 23 November,” he wrote. “I have decided to bring this date forward to 31 October.”
Stride tweeted: “Having pressed so hard on this I strongly welcome the decision.
“If this lands well with markets then [the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee] meeting on 3 November may result in small rise in interest rates. Critical to millions of mortgage holders.”
The central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates for the eighth time since last December at its November meeting, with economists currently expecting a sharper rise than seen in previous hikes.
There has been wide-spread confusion about when the statement would be. Last week the Treasury confirmed to journalists that publication would be bought forward, to October, although it did not give a date.
Shortly afterwards, however, Kwarteng insisted there had been no change, and reiterated that the statement – and OBR forecasts – would be published on 23 November as planned.
This is the latest U-turn the government has been forced into since the controversial budget. It had announced plans to abolish the top rate of income tax, but faced with growing criticism for cutting taxes for the wealthiest during a cost of living crisis, on the 3 October Kwarteng scrapped the plan, calling it a “distraction”.
