Tag Archives: Kwasi Kwarteng

05Jul/24

UK election: Tory downfall is democracy rectifying its mistakes

Stephen Barber, University of East London

Democracies are no better than other forms of government at avoiding catastrophic mistakes. But they are much more effective at rectifying them. While the 2024 British general election might have seemed a long time coming, as the country meandered from one failure to the next, the utter scale of defeat for the Conservatives is testament to the ability of a democratic system to reject, reverse and renew.

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15Oct/22

Kwasi Kwarteng: only a desperate prime minister sacks a chancellor

Despina Alexiadou, University of Strathclyde

Having seen her government’s popularity plummet just weeks after taking office, British prime minister Liz Truss has sacked her chancellor of the exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng in a bid to save herself. Kwarteng, widely seen as Truss’s right-hand man, was rushed back to London from New York for the occasion, where he had been meeting with IMF officials on Thursday evening.

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03Oct/22

Three reasons a weak pound is bad news for the environment

Katharina Richter, University of Bristol; Alix Dietzel, University of Bristol, and Alvin Birdi, University of Bristol

The day before new UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget plan for economic growth, a pound would buy you about $1.13. After financial markets rejected the plan, the pound suddenly sunk to around $1.07. Though it has since rallied thanks to major intervention from the Bank of England, the currency remains volatile and far below its value earlier this year.

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24Sep/22

Mini budget 2022: experts react to the new UK government’s spending and tax-cut plans

Phil Tomlinson, University of Bath; Andrew Burlinson, University of East Anglia; Catherine Waddams, University of East Anglia; Donald Hirsch, Loughborough University; Jean-Philippe Serbera, Sheffield Hallam University; Jim Watson, UCL; Jonquil Lowe, The Open University, and Steven McCabe, Birmingham City University

UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has just launched the biggest package of tax cuts in half a century. This will involve around £45bn of reductions for people and businesses by 2027 – 50% more than anticipated before the mini-budget announcement.

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24Sep/22

Mini budget: will Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan deliver growth?

Steve Schifferes, City, University of London

The UK economy has been dogged by slow growth for a long time. Combined with even slower growth in productivity, it has meant virtually no increase in living standards for the average family over the past decade.

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