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The pound and UK government bond yields have recovered in anticipation of a key statement from the new chancellor tasked with sorting out the fallout from the government’s disastrous mini-budget.

Sterling had fallen to a record low against the dollar at the end of September, after the short-lived then chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled the biggest programme of tax cuts for 50 years.

Mr Kwarteng, who was sacked on Friday after just 38 days in the job, paid the price for a giveaway that called into question the government’s economic credibility on financial markets.

The mini-budget led not just to a collapse in the value of the pound, but also prompted a surge in borrowing costs – forcing an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England (BoE).

However, following the prime minister’s announcement on Friday that Mr Kwarteng had been sacked and that corporation tax would rise to 25% from April next year instead of being kept at 19%, there was a partial recovery for the UK currency and bond yields.

Mr Kwarteng’s replacement, former foreign and health secretary Jeremy Hunt, has since promised to win back the confidence of the financial markets by fully accounting for the government’s tax and spending plans.

Sterling gained 1.1% to hit $1.1294 on Monday at one stage and also made strides versus the euro when the Treasury revealed that Mr Hunt would deliver key parts of a medium-term plan later on Monday in support of “fiscal sustainability”.

The statement – released before UK financial markets opened – added that Mr Hunt met the BoE governor Andrew Bailey and the head of the Debt Management Office on Sunday night to brief them on the plans.

There would be a select few announcements brought forward from the medium-term fiscal plan that is due to be revealed on 31 October.

The bond markets also suggested an easing of the recent pressure, given additional concerns in some quarters after the BoE on Friday concluded its emergency gilt market support on Friday.

The Bank issued its own statement ahead of the open to say that its operations, aimed at helping pension funds battling higher collateral demands, had enabled a “significant increase in the resilience of the sector”.

It reiterated that other liquidity options remained available, if needed, to ensure smooth financing.

Any rises in government borrowing costs, through a gilt yield rise, would have reflected additional jitters.

‘Unruly pupils are still scheming to oust the beleaguered head’

But there was a downwards shift, with both the UK 20 and 30 year yields falling by more than 30 basis points in early trading.

CHANCELLOR SECURES SOME BREATHING SPACE


Paul Kelso - Health correspondent

Paul Kelso

Business correspondent

@pkelso

When markets closed on Friday, after a dramatic day that saw a chancellor sacked and a totemic economic policy junked, the verdict was troubling:

A sell off UK gilts had gathered pace before, during and after the Prime Minister’s press conference, and the closing bell could not come fast enough.

After Jeremy Hunt spent the weekend signalling a dramatic change in course to reassure the investors on whom confidence in the UK economy rests, the Treasury was plainly not going to take any chances on Monday morning.

That explains the pre-dawn announcement that the new chancellor would be bringing forward U-turns on Kwasi Kwarteng’s calamitous mini-budget.

The aim was to secure breathing space, a stay of execution from markets that could, had they continued to sense vulnerability, deepened the crisis and ended the fiscal repositioning before it began.

The need was all the more acute as this was the first Monday in a fortnight when the Bank of England was not acting as backstop to the gilt markets, its emergency intervention having been withdrawn on Friday, in part triggering the political meltdown that ended the week.

The response was precisely the one the Treasury and Downing Street wanted to see; the first move of UK gilt yields, a measure of the effective cost of Government borrowing, was down.

Yields on 10, 20 and 30-year bonds all moved down as trading began in London at 8am, a trend that if it lasts between now and 31st October, when the Office for Budget Responsibility delivers its calculation of the state of the public finances, has immense political and practical implications.

The gilt markets matter not just because they are an expression of confidence in a nation’s creditworthiness. Government bonds are the mechanism through which states borrow, and the less faith there is in your plan, the more it costs.

And those borrowing costs are central to the calculations the Treasury and the OBR are making. The UK has £2.4trn of debt and under the Truss plans was going to take on tens of billions more to fund tax cuts.

With market confidence evaporating (and gilt yields rising) the cost of that borrowing, old and new, rose. If yields can be brought down the cost of borrowing will fall, cutting billions from one side of the government’s balance sheet, which could in return reduce the need for cuts.

The next hours and days will be pivotal.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said other risk factors remained at play despite the initial recovery.

”New chancellor Jeremy Hunt has the air of a troubleshooting teacher brought in to turn around a failing school and faces his first big presentation test today with an emergency budget plan wheeled out to try and calm financial markets.

New Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 10 Downing Street

“This is all part of his charm offensive to instil confidence in the government’s ability to be fiscally responsible, but behind him unruly pupils are still scheming to oust the beleaguered head,” she wrote.

Can Truss remain PM?

It reflects a renewed focus on whether Ms Truss, the architect of the government’s initial economic strategy, can remain in the job.

A Tory MP told Sky News: “The idea that the prime minister can just scapegoat her chancellor and move on is deluded.

“This is her vision. She signed off on every detail and she defended it.”

The Conservative Party is now on its fifth chancellor in the past three years – Mr Hunt, Mr Kwarteng, Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.

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CBI kicks off search for successor to ‘saviour’ Soames

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CBI kicks off search for successor to 'saviour' Soames

The CBI has begun a search for a successor to Rupert Soames, its chairman, as it continues its recovery from the crisis which brought it to the brink of collapse in 2023.

Sky News has learnt that the business lobbying group’s nominations committee has engaged headhunters to assist with a hunt for its next corporate figurehead.

Mr Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, was recruited by the CBI in late 2023 with the organisation lurching towards insolvency after an exodus of members.

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The group’s handling of a sexual misconduct scandal saw it forced to secure emergency funding from a group of banks, even as it was frozen out of meetings with government ministers.

One prominent CBI member described Mr Soames on Thursday as the group’s “saviour”.

“Without his ability to bring members back, the organisation wouldn’t exist today,” they claimed.

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Rupert Soames. Pic: Reuters

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Mr Soames and Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI chief executive, have partly restored its influence in Whitehall, although many doubt that it will ever be able to credibly reclaim its former status as ‘the voice of British business’.

Its next chair, who is also likely to be drawn from a leading listed company boardroom, will take over from Mr Soames early next year.

Egon Zehnder International is handling the search for the CBI.

“The CBI chair’s term typically runs for two years and Rupert Soames will end his term in early 2026,” a CBI spokesperson said.

“In line with good governance, we have begun the search for a successor to ensure continuity and a smooth transition.”

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Ryanair and easyJet cancel hundreds of flights over air traffic control strike

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Ryanair and easyJet cancel hundreds of flights over air traffic control strike

Ryanair and easyJet have cancelled hundreds of flights as a French air traffic controllers strike looms.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said it had axed 170 services amid a plea by French authorities for airlines to reduce flights at Paris airports by 40% on Friday.

EasyJet said it was cancelling 274 flights during the action, which is due to begin later as part of a row over staffing numbers and ageing equipment.

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The owner of British Airways, IAG, said it was planning to use larger aircraft to minimise disruption for its own passengers.

The industrial action is set to affect all flights using French airspace, leading to wider cancellations and delays across Europe and the wider world.

Ryanair said its cancellations, covering both days, would hit services to and from France, and also flights over the country to destinations such as the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland.

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Group chief executive Michael O’Leary has campaigned for a European Union-led shake-up of air traffic control services in a bid to prevent such disruptive strikes, which have proved common in recent years.

He described the latest action as “recreational”.

Michael O'Leary. Pic: Reuters
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Michael O’Leary. Pic: Reuters

“Once again, European families are held to ransom by French air traffic controllers going on strike,” he said.

“It is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace en route to their destination are being cancelled/delayed as a result of yet another French ATC strike.

“It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays.”

Ryanair is demanding the EU ensure that air traffic services are fully staffed for the first wave of daily departures, as well as to protect overflights during national strikes.

“These two splendid reforms would eliminate 90% of all ATC delays and cancellations, and protect EU passengers from these repeated and avoidable ATC disruptions due to yet another French ATC strike,” Mr O’Leary added.

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How markets reacted to uncertainty over Rachel Reeves’s future

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How markets reacted to uncertainty over Rachel Reeves's future

The pound fell and state borrowing costs rose during a period of uncertainty over the chancellor’s future on Wednesday.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer declined to guarantee whether a visibly emotional Rachel Reeves would remain chancellor until the next election following the government’s welfare bill U-turn.

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Following his remarks, the value of the pound dropped and government borrowing costs rose, via the interest rate on both 10 and 30-year bonds.

Although market fluctuations are common, there was a reaction following Sir Keir’s comments in the Commons – signalling concern among investors of potential changes within the Treasury.

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PM refuses to rule out tax rises

Sterling dropped to a week-long low, hitting $1.35 for the first time since 24 June. The level, however, is still significantly higher than the vast majority of the past year, having come off the near four-year peak reached yesterday.

While a drop against the euro, took the pound to €1.15, a rate not seen since mid-April in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.

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Meanwhile, the interest rate investors charge to lend money to the government, called the gilt yield, rose on both long-term (30-year) and ten-year bonds.

The UK’s benchmark 10-year gilt yield – so-called for the gilt edges that historically lined the paper they were printed on – rose to 4.67%, a high last recorded on 9 June.

And 30-year gilt yields hit 5.45%, a level not seen since 29 May.

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Both eased back in the hours following – as a spokesperson for the prime minister attempted to quell speculation about the chancellor’s future.

Sky News understands the prime minister made clear to the chancellor that she has his “complete support” and remains integral to his project.

Ms Reeves has committed to self-imposed rules to reduce debt and balance the budget. Speculation around her future led investors to question the government’s commitment to balancing the books – and how they would do that.

The questions over her future came after the government scrapped the core money-saving component of its welfare bill, which had been intended to reduce spending in order to meet fiscal rules.

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