The fallout from Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget continues

Adecade ago the Conservative government announced a budget so unpopular that it was dubbed an “omnishambles”. Humbled by weeks of bad headlines, it ultimately scrapped plans to introduce a tax on some hot foods. The reaction to Kwasi Kwarteng’s fiscal statement on September 23rd made the omnishambles budget look like a triumph for the ages.

After the chancellor announced the biggest tax cuts in half a century, sterling cratered: in the early hours of September 26th the value of the pound fell to a record intraday low of $1.035 (it subsequently recovered a bit). That same day ten-year gilt yields reached 4.3%, over one percentage point higher than a week before.