Quite delusional. They are probably so fixated on the idea that 2bn of tax breaks for their chums couldn’t possibly lead to hundreds of billions of damage, while ignoring the withholding of the OBR report, which is the greater sin in terms of market trust and confidence. The enthusiastic embracing of national self-harm in the form of Brexit, plus the influence of the IEA, has already made the markets wonder about the calibre of our leadership, this just compounds it.
The principle that no sane Chancellor would directly borrow at a time when public finances are under immense strain simply to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, coupled with what seems like evasive opacity over official economic data, and the sacking of the Chief Secretary, are the triggers for this. Quite frankly, they think he and Liz are bonkers, in complete disregard of fiscal norms, and if they are happy to behave like this after a handful of days, what’s coming around the corner?
A key role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is to reassure the markets about the solidity of leadership and good sense at the Treasury. Kwarteng has been utterly cavalier about it in his statements, and blasé about the consequences since.
