Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng sacked by Liz Truss

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked from his Cabinet role after the government was forced to rip up key sections of his economic plans.

Beleagured Prime Minister Liz Truss was under pressure to sack her chancellor after his economic plans caused chaos in the UK's financial markets.

Kwarteng returned early from a trip to the US, where he held meetings with fellow finance ministers, as anger grew among his own party over his growth plan announced last month.

His removal from the post after just 38 days makes him the second shortest serving chancellor, with only Iain Macleod, who died after 30 days in the job, holding the post for less time.
 

It comes after the government was forced to make a second major U-turn on its economic plans, opting to keep the planned corporation tax rise due to come into force next year, after initially planning to scrap the rise.

Earlier this month, Truss announced the government was also not pressing ahead with their plans to scrap the top 45 per cent rate of income tax following a major backlash.

It will put further pressure on Liz Truss, who strongly supported the chancellor's mini-Budget, which she said was crucial to shoring up the UK economy.

But the plans triggered chaos in the UK markets with major fluctuations in the value of the pound, and a significant drop in the value of UK government bonds, which forced the Bank of England to make several major interventions to shore up pension funds exposed to the bonds.

Speaking on Thursday, Kwarteng had rejected suggestions he could be removed from post if the government were forced to make further U-turns, saying he was "100 per cent not going anywhere".

Truss's plans to cut taxes had also played a major part of her leadership pitch to Conservative members during summer meaning the decision to sack Kwarteng will raise further questions over her future as Prime Minister.

The party has also suffered a severe drop in support, with some polls giving Labour a 33 point lead over Truss's party.

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