Bank’s £65bn To Protect Pensions In Day Of Turmoil

No U-turn...PM and Chancellor backing tax-cutting budget as the 'right plan'

- Martyn Brown

Liz Truss’s tax cuts are the right plan for economic growth despite the turmoil in markets, ministers insist.

In another extraordinary day, the Bank of England stepped in with a £65billion debt buy-up to save pension funds threatened by soaring interest rates.

The pensions watchdog praised the Bank for restoring “orderly conditions” after fears some funds were within hours of collapse.

With pressure mounting on Kwasi Kwarteng, City minister Andrew Griffith said the Chancellor’s mini-budget was the right plan to “make our economy competitive”. Following the Bank’s intervention, the pound later rallied against the dollar to $1.09 in another glimmer of good news.

It comes in the wake of last week’s £45billion tax cut strategy, which sent the pound falling, spooking financial markets and causing lenders to withdraw fixed-rate mortgages.

Mr Griffith said the Government was holding firm and blamed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for the turmoil in financial markets.

He said: “We’re seeing the same impact of Putin’s war in Ukraine cascading through things like the cost of energy, some of the supply side implications of that.

“And that’s impacting every major economy, and you’re seeing interest rates going up as well.

“We think they are the right plans because those plans make our economy competitive. Get on and deliver that plan. That’s what I, the Chancellor and my colleagues in Government are focused on – getting on and delivering that growth.