The statement was delivered against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis and was immediately followed by a sharp fall in the value of the pound sterling against the US dollar as world markets reacted negatively to the increased borrowing required.

The mini-budget drew widespread criticism from economists, some of whom feared that its reliance on increased government borrowing to pay for the largest tax cuts in 50 years could lead to a situation similar to the 1976 sterling crisis when the UK was forced to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a financial bailout.

[13] Prior to the statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility, a body that provides independent analysis of public finance, offered to produce a forecast to accompany the mini-budget, but this was turned down by the government.

[46] On 30 September, and after another slight recovery, the pound fell again, to $1.1082, following an emergency meeting between Truss, Kwarteng and the Office for Budget Responsibility, and when the Treasury resisted calls for the early publication of an OBR forecast.

[68] On 2 October, The Sunday Times reported that Kwarteng had attended a party on the evening of 23 September at which he had discussed aspects of economic policy with hedge fund managers, who might gain from a crash in the pound, and who had allegedly "egged him on".

[71] Ian King of Sky News observed that the prospect of a large surge in government borrowing caused a sharp rise in the bond market, where yields on gilt-edged securities immediately rose significantly.

King described Kwarteng's strategy as "high-risk, high-reward" and "unashamedly seeking to pursue growth" but said that the bond market was concerned about "this amount of fiscal loosening at a time when there is monetary tightening being carried out by the Bank of England".

[81] Interest on government bonds fell on 17 October as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a reversal of the majority of the tax cuts outlined in the mini-budget,[57] but it remained higher than when Truss took office.

The IMF, which acts to stabilise the global economy and sound economic warnings, suggested the government's fiscal plan, due at the time to be published on 23 November, gave it an opportunity to "re-evaluate" tax measures, "especially those that benefit high income earners".

[89] In late September, the French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire noted that the quick rise in interest rates on UK bonds was all the more important that the country's exit from the European Union had made it lose financial credibility on the markets.

[33] A commentary piece in The Guardian described the statement as "a naked exercise in redistributing wealth upwards" and commented that "it is more or less impossible to find an economist who supports the government's approach, or an economic model able to justify it".

However, Minford later said that he believed the Office for Budget Responsibility should have been involved in the mini-budget in order to reassure the markets, while Lyons subsequently said he had been "very clear" about warning both Truss and Kwarteng of the potential impact of their plans.

[101] Charlie Bean, a former member of the Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England deputy governor, suggested the government's three-year plan to reduce debt as a percentage of GDP would lead to a shortfall of £60bn to £70bn.

In contrast, the i newspaper said that the fall in sterling was a "punishing early verdict" from the markets, and warned of a Conservative backlash, while The Independent quoted Frances O'Grady, the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, who branded it "Robin Hood in reverse".

[109] Alex Brummer, City editor at the Daily Mail, called it "seismic" and said "By taking a hatchet to taxes and placing growth front and centre of economic policy, the chancellor has produced a genuine Tory package elbowing to one side the Treasury's fiscal conservatism".

[127] Politicians who spoke in favour of the mini-budget included Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, who was one of the first to signal their approval, describing the statement as "the best Conservative budget since 1986", when the Thatcher Government had cut income tax from 30% to 29%.

[135] According to a retrospective article by Edward Malnick of The Telegraph, the mini-budget's failure came down to the lack of experience among the people Truss had appointed to her team, and poor communication of its objectives, notably the language she and Kwarteng used to promote it.

[138][139][140] At the 2022 Conservative Party Conference political pollster John Curtice told delegates Labour were "very clearly the favourites" to win the next election, even if their lead in the polls were to be reduced, with Truss as unpopular with voters as her predecessor, Boris Johnson, had been prior to his resignation.

[46] On 29 September, and making her first public appearance since the mini-budget, Truss gave a series of interviews to BBC Local Radio stations in which she sought to defend the policy by saying her government had "done the right thing by taking action urgently" and that the Treasury was "working closely" with the Bank of England.

She attributed the "biggest part" of the government's intervention to the energy bills cap, and stated that the problem was not solely a UK one and there were "difficult markets around the world" due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[154] At her first party conference speech as leader, delivered on 5 October, Truss said she would break Britain out of a "high-tax, low-growth cycle" and attacked what she described as an "anti-growth coalition" she believed was holding the UK back from realising its full potential.

[155][156] On 4 October, Kwarteng suggested to GB News that the mini-budget had been delivered in the "high pressure" aftermath of the Queen's death, while also stating on two separate occasions that the abolition of the highest tax rate had only been "postponed".

[157] While apologising for the chaos caused by the mini-budget, former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi attracted derision after telling an edition of BBC One's Question Time that Russian President Vladimir Putin was to blame for the market turmoil.

[168] At a press conference held in Downing Street later the same day, Truss announced plans to keep the previous government's increase in corporation tax, having conceded "it is clear that parts of our mini-budget went further and faster than markets were expecting".

[81] Sean O'Grady of The Independent, suggested Hunt's appointment had effectively made him a de facto prime minister,[173] a view echoed by the newspaper's chief political editor, John Rentoul.

[176] Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme the day after his appointment as Chancellor, Hunt conceded that mistakes had been made with the mini-budget, chiefly that Kwarteng had been wrong to cut the top tax rate, and that it had been an error to "fly blind" by not seeking the Office for Budget Responsibility's input.

[198] Her absence drew criticism from a number of MPs, including Starmer, although she later made a brief appearance in the House, and it was subsequently reported she had been attending a pre-arranged meeting with Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee.

[200] A YouGov survey of Conservative Party members published on 18 October had reported that a majority of them wanted Truss to resign, with their favoured front runners for her replacement being Boris Johnson as most popular, followed in order by Ben Wallace, Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.

[214] In his first speech as prime minister, Sunak warned that "difficult decisions" lay ahead as he sought to deal with what he described as a "profound economic crisis" but said he would fix the mistakes made by his predecessor.

[219] In his first media interview since losing his job as Chancellor, Kwarteng told TalkTV he had warned Truss her economic reforms were moving too fast but she had not heeded that advice: "She said, 'Well, I've only got two years' and I said, 'You will have two months if you carry on like this'.