France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire
(Picture: REUTERS)France’s finance minister has said he is “worried” about Britain’s economic situation following the Government’s set of tax cuts.
Bruno Le Maire, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng‘s counterpart, said the UK was paying the price for leaving the EU.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio on Friday, he said: “I am not worried about the euro but I am worried about the situation in Britain.
“It shows that dramatic announcements do not work.
He added: “Leaving Europe comes at a considerable cost because Europe offers protection (...) the euro zone protected us during the Covid crisis.”
His comments follow a turbulent week which saw the pound slump to a record low against the dollar and the Bank of England step in to prevent the collapse of the pensions industry in the wake of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s £45 billion package of unfunded tax cuts.
There are fears the Bank will be forced to increase interest rates to keep a lid in on rising inflation, while public services are braced for another spending squeeze.
Both Prime Minister Liz Truss and Mr Kwarteng have defended the policies, but pair will face the heat as the Conservative Party Conference kicks off in Birmingham on Sunday.
Kwasi Kwarteng wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the Government “had no other choice” than to do “something different” to spark the economy.
As the Prime Minister admitted the strategy had caused “disruption”, Kwasi Kwarteng said the public expected public spending would be tightly controlled.
“The British taxpayer expects their government to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, and we will deliver on that expectation,” he wrote.
“Not all the measures we announced last week will be universally popular. But we had to do something different. We had no other choice.”
On Monday Mr Kwarteng will addresses Tory members and on Wednesday Ms Truss will deliver the final leader’s speech to end the Conservative Party Conference.
