The prime minister, Liz Truss, promised a return to the UK’s economic growth target of 2.5% a year during her Conservative leadership campaign, a level not consistently achieved before the 2008 banking crisis. An emergency budget package that will deliver winter tax cuts for millions of people is expected late next week after national mourning for the Queen’s death. Treasury sources confirmed that no requests had been made to the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce the economic forecasts that would normally accompany the chancellor’s budget speech. Number 10 said no legislation would be needed to introduce the household energy support package as it would include guarantees between the government and private energy suppliers. However, some legislation may be needed to establish support for businesses. Last week, Kwarteng sacked Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Tom Scholar on his first day on the job, a move that shocked Whitehall. Many former Whitehall chiefs questioned the decision, given Scholar’s extensive experience in handling financial crises. Kwarteng told civil servants on a call that Scholar had led an “excellent finance ministry” – a reference to the department’s commitment to tight spending. But in comments first reported by the FT, he said the focus must now be “entirely on growth”. Kwarteng argued that by returning to the 2.5% growth rate, Britain would be in a better position to reduce its budget deficit. During her leadership campaign, Truss told ConservativeHome: “We should be increasing on average to 2.5. And happiness is a faster growing private sector than the public sector. This is what we must achieve.” The “fiscal event” planned by Kwarteng is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday next week, before the Commons breaks up for party conferences. The measures will include reversing April’s rise in national insurance contributions and pledging not to raise corporation tax from 19% to 25% next year. These two measures alone, however, would result in permanent tax cuts of £30 billion a year – more than 1% of national income. Kwarteng can also bring about a reduction of one percentage point in the basic rate of income tax. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The Truss team also spoke to business groups about changes to business rates and cuts to VAT to help tackle the energy crisis, as well as a longer-term review of these taxes. The prime minister plans to travel to the United Nations general assembly in New York in the days after the queen’s funeral, returning in time to sit next to Kwarteng in the Commons as he delivers his budget speech. The most obvious day for this would be Thursday 22nd September, as parliamentary business has been adjourned until after Wednesday 21st and Truss is likely to be in New York by then. In the mini-budget, the government is expected to confirm plans to reverse the recent rise in national insurance, even though it benefits the highest earners more, returning around £1,800 a year to the top earners while the lowest earn around £7 a year.
