New UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt: We will reverse almost all mini-budget tax cuts

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The lower rate of 20p tax will remain “until economic circumstances allow for it to be cut” says the chancellor.

The government will reverse almost all the tax cuts it announced last month, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said.

He also announced that beyond April support for household and business energy bills would be reviewed.

Mr Hunt said economic growth required “confidence and stability”, adding that the UK “will always pay its way”.

But the announcement means the chancellor has unwound almost all of Liz Truss’s key measures announced in September’s mini-budget.

The BBC’s political editor Chris Mason said this showed “the Truss programme for government is dead”.

One former cabinet minister told the BBC: “She is a goner. [The chancellor’s statement] put it beyond any doubt.

“What is the point of Liz Truss? That is the question… there is literally no point,” they added.

A Downing Street spokesman said the PM and chancellor were working closely together, and sidestepped questions on whether Ms Truss would be resigning.

Ms Truss rejected a Labour request that she should appear before MPs to explain the U-turns herself, and sent Commons leader Penny Mordaunt instead.

She arrived in the Commons just before the chancellor gave a statement to MPs and left shortly after he began taking questions.

Among the measures to be reversed are plans to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p from April.

Mr Hunt said the rate would remain at 20p “indefinitely until economic circumstances allow for it to be cut”.

However, he said the cuts to stamp duty paid on house purchases and the scrapping of the National Insurance rise would continue.

The plan to remove the cap on bankers’ bonuses is another of the mini-budget policies to survive.

Mr Hunt said the measures, including the previously announced freeze on corporation tax and keeping the top rate of income tax, would raise around £32bn a year.

Last month, the government announced it would cap the typical household energy bill at £2,500 for two years.

However, Mr Hunt said this pledge would now only last until April and beyond then there would be a new approach “that will cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned”.

The prime minister has repeatedly highlighted how the government’s energy support package lasted longer than the six months promised by Labour.

Mr Hunt said there would be “more difficult decisions” on tax and spending and some areas would need to be cut.

Last week, Ms Truss said she was “absolutely” not planning public spending cuts.

Mr Hunt later told the Commons a new Economic Advisory Council would be formed to provide independent expert advice, alongside that from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Asked if he would introduce a “proper” windfall tax on energy companies, Mr Hunt said he was “not against the principle” of taxing profits that are “genuine windfalls”, adding that “nothing is off the table”.

Ms Truss had previously ruled out a further windfall tax on energy companies.