BBC Host Taunts Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Over Potential Tax Cuts: ‘Are You Kwasi Kwarteng 2.0?’

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Wednesday hinted at more tax reductions ahead of the next general election in defiance of warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, prompting BBC Breakfast host John Kay to ask if he was “Kwasi Kwarteng 2.0.”

Hunt refused to rule out further reductions to National Insurance tax despite an analytics report from the IMF released Tuesday that claimed the UK economy could not support further tax cuts this year.

Asked about the report Hunt said he acknowledged the IMF’s stance but said he was in “respectful disagreement” with the organisation’s take.

“We look around the world and we see that the fastest growing economies in North America and Asia are the ones that tend to have lower taxes,” he said.

Kay, shocked, pressed him again to reveal whether he would, in fact, cut taxes and “ignore” the IMF’s advice.

The host said: “Two minutes ago, you told us that [former Chancellor] Kwasi Kwarteng and [former Prime Minister] Liz Truss made mistakes with the economy, and now you are saying that you’re prepared, very prepared by the sounds of it, to cut taxes against all the warnings from the IMF. Are you potentially Kwasi Kwarteng 2.0?”

After an awkward silence, Hunt responded: “No, and I made it very clear, and my record demonstrates, that every time we’ve cut taxes it’s because we can afford to do it and we’ve done it without increasing borrowing, and that was the mistake that Kwasi made.”

Kwarteng’s controversial mini-Budget of 2022 caused chaos in the UK, leading to soaring mortgage costs and a steep drop in the pound’s value. This fiscal event sparked a chain reaction that culminated in the political downfall of Truss.