Kwarteng praises Hunt Budget despite rift over corporation tax

‘I am not in the business of apologising for everything, I think we should have been more methodical’

KWASI KWARTENG, the former chancellor, has praised Jeremy Hunt’s “good” Budget but pledged to keep fighting for a lower-tax economy.

Mr Kwarteng, who presided over the ill-fated mini-budget during Liz Truss’s time in office, admitted he and Ms Truss “got it wrong” in how they went about introducing tax cuts.

Speaking to Camilla Tominey, associate editor of The Daily Telegraph, on her GB News programme, Mr Kwarteng argued that Mr Hunt had “done a good job” in calming the markets and hailed his announcement last Wednesday.

“I think it was a good Budget,” Mr Kwarteng said. “I disagree with [the corporation tax rise] and in a way that’s why I was sacked, because ultimately there was a disagreement about corporation tax and it was felt, given the market turmoil that had occurred, that we had to reverse not putting it up.” He added: “What we can’t do is pretend that last October didn’t happen or last September didn’t happen.

“There was an adverse reaction to the budget that I put forward, the minibudget that Liz Truss and I put forward.

“And Jeremy was appointed by Liz Truss, and people forget that, but he was actually appointed by her and I think he’s actually done a good job in stabilising the situation.”

Asked if he would say sorry to those whose mortgages were affected by the turmoil that followed his plans, he said there was “too much” in his minibudget but insisted he was “not in the business of apologising for everything”.

“I think we should have been more methodical, I don’t think everything I did was right … but I’m very much trying to look forward to actually fighting for the low tax economy that I want to see,” he told The Camilla Tominey Show.

He urged the Tories to get behind Rishi Sunak if they are to have a chance of winning the next election, adding: “It’s very irritating to see people who’ve been very high up in government not backing necessarily everything that the prime minister’s trying to do.”

George Osborne, the former chancellor, said the “solid, steady” announcements by Mr Hunt marked a good week for him and Mr Sunak.

However, Mr Osborne, who slashed the corporation tax rate from 28 per cent to 20 per cent in his time, said he “wasn’t a great fan” of the decision to press ahead with the 6 per cent increase.

“That to me is a more significant undoing of my legacy that I don’t support,” he told The Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4. “Because I think it sends the wrong message about growth around the world.”