• Jeremy Hunt is the new chancellor of the exchequer.
• He says it was a mistake to make estimates without checking with the Office of Budget Responsibility.
• “We’re going to be asking for painful decisions across the board on tax and spending,” he adds.

The controversial tax cut proposals of the cabinet that caused chaos in the financial markets and resulted in the quick dismissal of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng have been cited by the new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, as examples of blunders made by the British government.

“Errors were made. In his first full day as chancellor of the exchequer, Hunt told Sky News on Saturday that cutting the tax rate paid by the very wealthy was a mistake. “We’re going to be asking for painful decisions across the board on tax and spending.

“It was a mistake to make these estimates without providing the Office of Budget Responsibility’s assurance that the numbers add together and to fly by the seat of one’s pants. That has been acknowledged by the prime minister, which is why I’m here.

Hunt added that after Liz Truss had already made two significant U-turns on her tax-cutting program, she had given him permission to make more modifications to the government’s budgetary plans. This was in a separate interview with BBC radio.

Hunt made his comment in an effort to calm the financial markets after three weeks of turbulence. It also happens a day after Truss, who had been premier for less than 40 days, sacked Kwarteng as her chancellor and abandoned some of their contentious economic plans in a last-ditch effort to stay in power.

The financial markets reacted so violently to Kwarteng’s budget statement on September 23 that the Bank of England had to step in to keep pension funds out of the mayhem as borrowing costs skyrocketed.

In a rushed news conference held shortly after firing Kwarteng, Truss announced that she was abandoning her pledge to maintain the corporation tax rate at its present level and that government spending will increase less than anticipated.

One of the main components of Truss’s original ideas was significant, unfunded tax cuts, but Hunt predicted tax hikes.

We will need to make some pretty painful decisions, he said.

Stability, according to Hunt, is what the public wants, what the markets desire, and what the nation urgently needs. “No chancellor has any authority over the markets. However, all I can do is demonstrate that we are capable of funding our tax and spending goals, which will include making some really difficult fiscal and tax decisions.

On October 31, Hunt is scheduled to present the government’s medium-term budget plans. This will be a crucial test of Hunt’s ability to convince investors that his economic strategy can be trusted once again.

According to him, spending will not increase as much as people had hoped, and all government agencies would need to make more savings than they had anticipated.

“Some taxes won’t be reduced as rapidly as many hope, and some will even increase. Therefore, it will be challenging, he remarked.

As lawmakers who questioned Truss’ ability to remain in the position were quoted in the media, Truss was expected to spend the weekend attempting to bolster her waning support within the Conservative Party.

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