Jeremy Hunt appointed UK finance minister: Times

Former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt has been appointed Britain’s finance minister, Prime Minister Liz Truss’s office said on Friday, following Kwasi Kwarteng’s firing from the post.

Truss on Friday also scrapped parts of their economic package in a desperate bid to stay in power and survive the market and political turmoil gripping the country.

Truss, in power for only 37 days, then told a news conference she would now allow a key business levy to rise from next year, raising £18 billion ($20 billion), as she accepted she had gone “further and faster” than markets had been expecting.

“We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline,” she said.

The pound slid against the dollar after she spoke, trading 1.2 percent lower on the day at $1.1198 and two-year British government bonds, or gilts turned negative.

The plan for unfunded tax cuts crushed UK assets and drew international censure, but the pound and gilts have started to recover since the government started looking for ways to balance the books.