UK Consumers Are Facing a Rough Next Few Months
Higher taxes and a return to austerity look likely no matter who succeeds Liz Truss.
Lettuce lasted longer.
Images: Bloomberg; Photo Illustration: Jessica Karl
After UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt consigned Trussonomics to the bin on Monday, shares in British retailers rose.
That may have been premature. While the much derided economic plan delivered by Liz Truss, who resigned as prime minister on Thursday, sent sterling plunging and sparked a crisis in the gilt market, substantially reducing the tax burden would have softened the blow of rising prices for many British households and given companies more room to invest. Whoever succeeds Truss, higher taxes and a return to austerity look more likely. Neither are good for consumer confidence or spending.