Gillian Keegan, the foreign secretary, said the £100 billion support package for households and businesses on their energy bills showed that this was not the government’s philosophy. Her comments come after Joe Biden, the US President, played down the economic crisis – the idea that cutting taxes on the rich and businesses to spur growth will eventually trickle down to benefit the entire population through jobs and investment . At the UN general assembly, where world leaders gather in New York, Biden said he was “sick and tired” of the approach, which he claimed had never worked. Truss and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, are embarking on a “pro-growth” agenda that prioritizes tax cuts and deregulation. He told reporters on the plane to the US: “Lower taxes lead to economic growth, I have no doubt about that.” Asked if Truss was pushing the trickle-down theory, Keegan told BBC Breakfast: “That wasn’t really a message, we don’t think so, which is based on our economy… You can’t say what we’ve done is trickle- down Economics. You know, we’ve just drawn up a huge package, which the chancellor will outline the costs and how we’re going to deal with it. “But it’s huge, the package we’ve put in place to make sure we’re supporting people right now. So if you look at the definition of economics, it definitely doesn’t fit.” He added: “There’s no way you can describe our approach as stagnant.” Keegan was also pressed on how removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses would help people struggling to pay their bills and argued it would “help everyone be pro-growth and pro-business”. “Of course, the packages that we have there are exactly for those situations that you described — people who are worried, people who are, you know, looking at the rising costs and wondering how they’re going to make it,” he said. . “That’s why we’ve already put this important package in place to freeze the accounts and there’s also additional support that was already in place on top of that for some groups as well.” But Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, hit out at lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. He told Sky News: “The idea that lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses alone will boost the economy when it will have no impact on 99.9% of people in this country and, very importantly, will undermine big battle, which is against inflation – because how is the government going to say to public sector workers or private sector people: “We don’t want to go into a 1970s wage spiral, cut your own demands – oh by the way , we’re lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses.” I find it incoherent.” Reynolds said he wasn’t confident the government understood what was needed to help people. “Getting rid of the cap on bankers’ bonuses or taking away people’s working rights – that’s not the way to grow this economy for everyone’s benefit. That’s not the way to raise it at all,” he said. Truss and Kwarteng’s economic plan will be drawn up on Friday in a mini-budget, but they are refusing to ask for independent forecasts of how their tax cuts will affect public finances. In its latest break from Treasury orthodoxy, the Trust promised on Tuesday to review all tax rates to help households and businesses facing the cost of living crisis. The prime minister’s remarks pave the way for a radical overhaul of the system that could include overhauling income tax frameworks and amid reports he plans to cut stamp duty as part of Friday’s mini-budget.
