UK’s Kwarteng to bring forward publication of his fiscal plan

LONDON (Reuters) -British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng is to bring forward publication of his medium-term fiscal plan to bring down public debt to later this month, the Financial Times and a government source said on Monday.

Earlier, Kwarteng said he was dropping his plan to scrap the top rate of income tax, which had caused an uproar including among some lawmakers within his own Conservative Party and helped trigger turmoil in financial markets.

He had previously said he would deliver his fiscal statement on Nov. 23, but in a speech to the ruling Conservative party conference said he would publish more details “shortly” of his plans for cutting debt alongside full forecasts from Britain’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

A government source told Reuters the “OBR can move quicker, so can we”.

Commenting on the Chancellor’s plan to bring forward publication of the fiscal plan, the chair of the Treasury Committee Mel Stride said the move would “calm the markets” and help “reduce the upward pressure on interest rates”.

“In particular getting the forecast out ahead of the MPC meeting on 3rd November might help to reassure our rate setters that they can go with a smaller base rate increase than would otherwise be the case,” Stride said in a statement on Monday, referring to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy (MPC).

The FT, without citing sources, said Kwarteng was expected to accelerate publication to later this month, saying his statement would set out a five-year plan to put debt on a downward path, including a tight squeeze on public spending.

(Reporting by Michael Holden, Elizabeth Piper and Kanjyik Ghosh; Editing by Sandra Maler and Richard Pullin)