LONDON (Reuters)

Britain’s finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked, the BBC reported today (October 14).

Kwarteng is no longer chancellor of the exchequer, the BBC said.

The reports of Kwarteng’s dismissal came after the Times newspaper this morning said British Prime Minister Liz Truss would fire her finance minister and scrap parts of their economic package, in a bid to survive the market and political pressure unleashed by their fiscal plan.

Downing Street confirmed that Truss, in power for only 37 days, would hold a press conference later on Friday. Earlier, Kwarteng landed back in London after he left International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington early to work on their economic plan.

British government bonds rallied further, adding to their partial recovery since Truss’s government started looking for ways to balance the books after her unfunded tax cuts crushed the value of British assets and drew international censure.

Kwarteng had announced a new fiscal policy on September 23, delivering Truss’s vision for vast tax cuts and deregulation to try to shock the economy out of years of stagnant growth.

But the response from markets was so ferocious that the Bank of England had to intervene to prevent pension funds from being caught up in the chaos, as borrowing and mortgage costs surged.

Truss and Kwarteng have been under mounting pressure to reverse course since, as polls showed support for their Conservative Party had collapsed, prompting colleagues to openly discuss whether they should be replaced.

Having triggered a market rout, Truss now runs the risk of bringing the government down if she cannot find a package of public spending cuts and tax rises that can appease investors and get through any parliamentary vote in the House of Commons.