| Chris |
10-21-2022 09:59 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87
(Post 1947653)
What exactly is going on in Britain? I just saw it in the headlines. Cost of living is going up, so is everywhere in the world. It doesn't seem to be any scandal with her personally. Any U.K. residents on here for insight? It seems like ever since Brexit there has been instability in the country.
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Basically her first major act as PM was a mini budget which froze energy bills (so far so good) but rather than pay for with a windfall tax on excess profits (which was called for by opposition parties and actually supported by some energy companies but ruled out by Truss) she and her chancellor didn't say how it would be funded. Then they added unfunded tax cuts on top of that (including one targeted specifically at the highest earners in the country).
The markets reacted badly, the pound crashed, any help the energy bill freeze would give was wiped out by the increase in interest rates, especially on mortgages. UK cost of borrowing spiked making those unfunded tax cuts (aka borrowing) cost even more. The Bank of England stepped in and started buying up UK gilts to stop pension funds from being wiped out.
Essentially her first act/budget crashed the economy. The chancellor was fired and they abandoned pretty much everything in the mini budget but the damage was done both to the economy and to her politically.
So now we're looking for our third PM in less than 2 months!
Personally I think they need to call an election, take the loss, and sort out who they want to lead them and what they want to stand for post-Brexit in opposition. They clearly can't do that whilst in power.
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