Politics

Pound falls sharply and government gilt interest rates up after major budget tax rises

Published

12 months ago

October 31, 2024

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The pound has fallen sharply after the chancellor announced the biggest tax rises in a generation.

Over the last three days, sterling has dropped by 1.2% (in trade weighted terms) – the biggest fall in 18 months.

Between around 1.30pm and 5.30pm today, versus the dollar, it dropped from about 129.9c to the pound to about 128.6c. In the same period, against the euro, it went from 119.3c to the pound to about 118.4c.

In addition, yields for 10-year UK bonds – the cost or interest rate charged for long-term government borrowing – have gone past 4.5% for the first time in a year.

Ed Conway, Sky News’s economics and data editor, said those yields are “pretty much halfway towards the danger zone” – a zone identified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

However, he said other European bonds had risen, too. “But the UK does seem to be moving faster than most of the others,” he added.

While cautioning that the budget is still very new, Conway said the “upshot” is that Rachel Reeves’s “room for manoeuvre” is already diminishing “because of market moves”.

Markets are reacting in “quite a violent way”, Conway said.

“It’s really unusual to see this after a budget, and that will have a bearing on how much this government will be able to afford in the future,” he added.

A sudden rise in the yields of 10-year UK bonds followed Liz Truss’s disastrous “mini-budget” of September 2022, which led to a surge in the cost of borrowing for ordinary consumers, while the pound slumped to a 37-year low against the dollar.

It is “certainly not like that at the moment”, Conway said.

Nonetheless, market movements will be “enough to really concern people at the Treasury”, he added, “because it suggests that a lot of traders are looking at how much money this government is borrowing, and they’re saying: ‘Hang on, maybe we’re going to charge you more’.”

While Conway said it does not feel like a “crisis point”, he said the “calculus for this government” may be changing.

Jack Meaning, UK chief economist at Barclays, said market reaction was “materially different” to what happened in 2022.

Bond yields since Ms Reeves’s budget are up by about 0.3%, while in 2022 the rise was about 1.5%, he said.

The conversation Barclays is having with its customers is also different to that in 2022, Mr Meaning added.

At that time, people were wondering whether a “big crisis point” had been reached.

This time, he said the focus is on comments from the OBR about a potential rise in inflation, and the potential knock-on effect as the Bank of England makes decisions on interest rates in the next few months.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson refused to talk about bond prices.

“We don’t comment on market movements,” they said.

“The chancellor has been very clear that first and foremost, this budget has been about restoring fiscal stability, and she’s outlined two new robust fiscal rules, which put public finances on a sustainable path.”

Politics

UK played ‘vital role’ in Gaza peace deal, says Trump aide, after minister branded ‘delusional’

Published

2 hours ago

October 13, 2025

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UK played 'vital role' in Gaza peace deal, says Trump aide, after minister branded 'delusional'

Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has claimed the UK played a “vital role” in helping negotiate the Gaza peace deal, smoothing over a potential diplomatic row between London and Washington.

Witkoff took to X on Monday, ahead of meeting President Donald Trump in Israel, to praise the UK.

“I would like to acknowledge the vital role of the United Kingdom in assisting and coordinating efforts that have led us to this historic day in Israel,” Witkoff wrote.

“In particular, I want to recognise the incredible input and tireless efforts of National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell.”

His comments came 24 hours after education secretary Bridget Phillipson was branded “delusional” by Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, for claiming that Sir Keir Starmer’s presence at a signing ceremony for today’s ceasefire deal in Egypt “demonstrates the key role that we [Britain] have played”.

The minister made her remarks on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips but did not say exactly what the UK’s role in the ceasefire, largely attributed to Donald Trump, is or was.

Politics latest: Phillipson announces crackdown on antisemitism at UK universities

Phillipson added: “We have played a key role behind the scenes in shaping this.

“It’s right that we do so because it’s in all of our interest, including our own national interest, that we move to a lasting peace in the region.

“These are complex matters of diplomacy that we are involved in. But we do welcome and recognise the critical role that the American government played in moving us to this point.”

Her comments prompted Mr Huckabee to repost the Sky News clip on social media, claiming: “I assure you she’s delusional.”

He added: “She can thank Donald Trump anytime just to set the record straight.”

Mr Huckabee was part of the negotiating team for the peace deal, with Mr Trump calling the former Arkansas governor “AMAZING” as he said he “worked so hard, and did so much, to bring about peace in the Middle East”.

In August, Mr Huckabee said the UK and other European nations that said they would declare a Palestinian state were “having the counterproductive effect that they probably think that they want”.

Israel: UK did not play key role in peace deal

Israel’s deputy foreign affairs minister, Sharren Haskell backed Huckabee, telling Sky News the UK played “the opposite” of a key role in the peace deal after recognising the Palestinian state.

“The message that the UK government has sent Hamas was the message that: the longer they continue this war, they will be rewarded.

“I mean, you must understand that when a terrorist organisation is thanking you. You are on the wrong side of history.”

It is understood the prime minister has underlined Mr Trump’s key role in securing this deal throughout the process. Publicly, he praised Mr Trump twice in his press conference in India on Thursday.

Ms Phillipson stood by the September decision to declare a Palestinian state, saying it was “the right thing to do”.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Sky News it was a “moment of leadership” for the UK to declare a Palestinian state, and a “responsibility to begin to correct a century of the gravest historic injustices committed against our people”.

He added: “That moment three weeks ago, when the UK did recognise, is a moment when we can say that the wheels of history are turning in a different direction.”

No plans for British troops on the ground

The education secretary also told Sky News the government has “no plans” to put British troops into Israel or Gaza as part of a stabilisation force after the ceasefire.

The US military will help establish a multinational force in Israel, known as a civil-military coordination centre, which is likely to include troops from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE.

On Friday, US officials said up to 200 US troops already based in the Middle East will be moved to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza.

The day before, President Trump announced Israel and Hamas had “signed off on the first phase” of a peace plan he unveiled last week.

Aid trucks have been gathering in Egypt to cross into Gaza after months of warnings by aid groups of famine in parts of the territory.

In Israel, the remaining hostages are due to be returned from Gaza by Hamas on Monday under the first phase of the peace plan. Twenty are believed to still be alive, 26 have been declared dead, while the fate of two is unknown.

The ceasefire agreement has been made two years after Hamas stormed Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN deems reliable.