LONDON (Reuters) -British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng is to bring forward publication of his medium-term fiscal plan to bring down public debt to later this month, the Financial Times and a government source said on Monday.
Earlier, Kwarteng said he was dropping his plan to scrap the top rate of income tax, which had caused an uproar including among some lawmakers within his own Conservative Party and helped trigger turmoil in financial markets.
He had previously said he would deliver his fiscal statement on Nov. 23, but in a speech to the ruling Conservative party conference said he would publish more details “shortly” of his plans for cutting debt alongside full forecasts from Britain’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
A government source told Reuters the “OBR can move quicker, so can we”.
The FT, without citing sources, said Kwarteng was expected to accelerate publication to later this month, saying his statement would set out a five-year plan to put debt on a downward path, including a tight squeeze on public spending.
(Reporting by Michael Holden and Elizabeth Piper;Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
