- Falling pound: Recall Parliament to fix failed Budget
- Kwarteng must resign if pound reaches parity with dollar
Falling pound: Recall Parliament to fix failed Budget
The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to urgently recall Parliament, so the Chancellor can fix his disastrous and out of touch Budget which has sent the pound plummeting.
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said:
Last week the Chancellor announced a shambolic budget that gave huge unfunded tax cuts to big banks and the wealthiest while leaving struggling families and pensioners in the cold. As a result we are seeing the pound plummet into free fall as the markets give the Conservatives a damning vote of no confidence.
The Government must urgently recall Parliament so Kwasi Kwarteng can fix this failed budget, before it does any more damage to our economy and people’s livelihoods.
It’s clear the Conservatives are totally out of touch and don’t have a proper plan to steer the economy through the difficult months ahead. MPs must be given a chance to scrutinise these disastrous proposals now before it’s too late.
Kwarteng must resign if pound reaches parity with dollar
The Liberal Democrats have challenged Kwasi Kwarteng to resign if the pound reaches parity with the dollar.
The call comes as the Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has refused to comment on the latest decline, leaving the currency at an all-time low against the US dollar.
Commenting Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Sarah Olney MP said:
By proposing a botched and out-of-touch budget then refusing to comment when it goes wrong, the Chancellor is showing contempt for British families and businesses.
If the pound continues to plummet and reaches parity with the dollar, this would be an unprecedented national humiliation with devastating consequences. Kwasi Kwarteng would surely have no choice but to resign to restore confidence in our economy.
The Conservative budget had no plan to tackle spiralling inflation, sky-high bills and soaring interest rates, if they don’t act now families and pensioners will bear the brunt of their failure.
2 Comments
“If the pound continues to plummet and reaches parity with the dollar, this would be an unprecedented national humiliation with devastating consequences. Kwasi Kwarteng would surely have no choice but to resign to restore confidence in our economy.” Let’s be v careful about our Treasury spokespeople making somewhat ill-considered comments like this. There are a number of factors that drive significant currency depreciation/appreciations and whilst the newly announced policies have clearly accelerated the decline, the strength of the US$ as a safehaven currency is also an important factor. Are we going to have Chancellor’s resign when the £ drops below or rises above a certain rate? And remember that the Euro has also declined significantly against the US$ this year.
It’s not ‘just’ the pound though, is it? The markets’ reaction has clobbered pension funds (for ‘ordinary folk’ – friend due to retire soon is joking about ‘having to eat cat food’, but not actually laughing). Banks are pulling mortgage products. Interest rates are likely to rise, clobbering families harder than any gain from tax cuts.
All to push through ideology while shutting out actual experts.