Tax & Spend
BOE Choices Are Making It Harder for Hunt to Spur UK Economy
- Economists say QT losses remove £10 billion of fiscal headroom
- Government urged to exclude losses from debt-reduction rule
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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt will have about £10 billion ($12.3 billion) less for public services or tax cuts in his autumn statement this month as a result of the Bank of England selling off government bonds it bought under quantitative easing, according to economists.
The warning shows how choices made by the BOE are creating a fiscal straitjacket for Hunt at a time when he has little room to deliver the tax cuts that many in his beleaguered Conservative Party want ahead of a general election expected next year.