Associated Press

Media: U.K. Treasury chief out as prime minister plans U-turn

Stefan Rousseau / PA via AP
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng arrives in Downing Street after returning from the U.S., in London, on Friday.

The Associated Press

21:01 JST, October 14, 2022

LONDON (AP) — British media say Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng has left the government, ahead of an announcement by Prime Minister Liz Truss on changes to an economic package that sparked market turmoil.

The BBC and Sky News reported Kwarteng’s departure on Friday. It comes after a month in the job — and three weeks after he announced a tax-cutting “mini budget” that sent the pound plunging to record lows against the dollar.

On Thursday Kwarteng denied he was about to lose his job, saying “I’m not going anywhere.”

Truss is due to hold a news conference later Friday. She is under intense pressure to scrap some of the 43 billion pounds ($48 billion) in unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and led the Bank of England to step in to prevent a wider economic crisis.