British finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng has resigned, the BBC and Sky News reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources. Meanwhile, an increasingly questionable Prime Minister Liz Truss is trying to save her job.
“You asked me to step down as finance minister. I accepted,” Kwarteng wrote on his Twitter account in a letter to Truss.
On Thursday, while the government’s controversial economic plans have roiled financial markets, Kwarteng announced that he is not going anywhere.
Kwarteng announced a new fiscal policy on September 23 that proposed massive tax cuts and deregulation to try to lift the economy from years of stagnant growth.
But the markets’ response was so severe that the Bank of England had to step in to prevent pension funds from falling into disarray as borrowing and mortgage costs rose.
Truss and Kwarteng are under pressure to reverse course as the Conservatives’ favorability polls plummet.