Changing Britain's leader would be a "disastrously bad idea", foreign minister James Cleverly said on Thursday as he defended prime minister Liz Truss's economic plans which have caused discontent within the governing Conservative Party.
"I think that changing the leadership would be a disastrously bad idea, not just politically but also economically, and we are absolutely going to stay focused on growing the economy," Cleverly said of Truss who only replaced Boris Johnson in office last month.
Truss has vowed to reignite economic growth by reforming planning rules, workers' rights and immigration, while cutting tens of billions of pounds of taxes.
However, the unfunded tax cuts have caused turmoil in financial markets.
The British government is under pressure to show how it will kick-start growth, rebuild investor confidence and convince Britain's spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), that it can start to think about balancing the books.
With borrowing costs surging and mortgage and pension markets showing strain, UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng has brought forward the publication of his longer-term tax and spending plans and the OBR's independent economic forecast to October 31st, more than three weeks earlier than previously scheduled.
He had planned initially to set out his plans on November 23rd – two months after his "mini-budget" triggered a rout in British bonds.
