Emergency action by Bank of England amid UK economic turmoil

As the economic storm clouds over the UK darkened further still, the Bank of England today staged a dramatic intervention - saying it will start buying up government debt in an effort to stabilise markets and protect pension funds.

The surging cost of borrowing, sparked last week by the Chancellor's tax-cutting plans, had earlier drawn a stinging rebuke from the IMF - but the government says it's sticking to its guns, although departments will be asked to identify 'spending efficiencies'.

Labour says parliament should be recalled so the prime minister is held to account over the crisis.

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[britishrose]

I didn't know "Putin's war" started on Friday just as the Chancellor started speaking.

[soviet]

In what other job can you wipe out half a trillion pounds in a weekend and still be in post on Monday, flatly refusing to admit anything happened? These people take us for fools

[Jonpoo]

How stupid does he think we are with that “Putin’s war” response?? The war’s been going on for half a year! An awful coincidence that this chaos should have waited until the government announced it’s own surprise special operation..

[MatthewVinson]

With inflation currently at about 10% coupled with bad energy policy, bad foreign policy, bad regulatory policy, and insane fiscal policy. My primary concern is how to grow my reserve of £300k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains, sure I'm all in on the long term game, but with my savings lying waste to inflation and my portfolio losing gains everyday, I need a remedy asap.

[donaldwatson]

Increased losses for portfolios this quarter are predicted by market drops, skyrocketing inflation, a major interest rate hike by the Fed, and rising treasury rates. How can I profit from the volatile market right now? I'm still considering whether to sell my million dollar bond and stock account.

[jujutrini]

I remember when David Cameron and George Osborne won the election and saying to colleagues they are the worst PM and Chancellor of my lifetime. I felt vindicated by the end of their run in power. Then May and Johnson came along and showed how much worse things could be! Then I made the mistake of thinking no one could be worse than Johnson at running the country! Now I know that as far as the Tories are concerned there are no depths.

[philipvjones]

So, in this programme, the Tories blamed Putin, the US and the BoE for this. They really must think everyone is as stupid as they are.

[radec]

How this country held dominion over the world is hard to imagine.

[Christian.]

Rishi: you can't borrow your way out of debt Liz that's not how money and finance works.

*Liz: watch me*

*Rishi: alright* 🙄

*The pound crumbles*

*Rishi: hate to say I told you so but.. I told you so Liz you nincompoop.*

[alanleung]

The party had a choice between finance minister as PM, or foreign minister as PM.
They can't possibly be surprised that their economic plan isn't working out when they rejected the finance minister.

[Falconlibrary]

JOHNSON: No Prime Minister could possibly be more disastrous and incompetent than me.
TRUSS: Hold my tea.

[hoogmonster]

The contempt these venal, self possessed ideologues have for real life in real Britain is frankly frightening. That the Bank of England is now at loggerheads with the government and is trying it's best to ameliorate Truss and Kwarteng's absurd mini budget is also strikingly confirming of the fact that this government hasn't just lost the plot, they've never been in possession of it at all.

[bl]

And we all thought BOJO was useless. Truss just couldn't wait to prove she was even more incompetent. Then, there are all the Tory minons trying to shift the blame onto others. This is only happening in the UK because Truss has tanked the economy.

[filrabat]

I know I'm not UK (I'm US), but it seems laws or regulations forcing the pension funds to hold a certain amount of cash beforehand prior to the actual act of investing would have at least softened the blow. This is particularly true if they plan to borrow from banks. Not that the US has better financial regulations to stop this kind of stuff (we still haven't learned from the 2008 Financial Crisis, apparently)

[oneiljerry]

Times have changed and now stock market is all about pump and dump leaving retailers as bag holders. Bag holders turned to long term investors will still bag hold and stock might go to zero. There is too much news, too many analysts, too many factors, too many firms, insiders influencing the stock price. Retailer money is being sucked. With inflation currently at about 10%, my primary concern is how to grow my reserve of $300k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains.

[denisdaly]

Its very clear. The labour government of 2052 is the problem here.

[andrewjones-productions]

Just goes to show that Rishi Sunak actually knew what he was talking about (at least in comparison with Thicky Trussy). He does after all have experience in the finance world and likely spoke from a certain amount of that experience. That in turn shows us how stupid and disconnected the membership of the Conservative and Unionist Party are that they decided that a complete and utter idiot would be better in the role of Prime Minister.

[kirishima]

Kwarteng is done. Resignation by next week. Truss will be facing a vote of no confidence by Christmas, major U-turns expected.

[gladtownghost]

They're shorting the pound on purpose for their hedgefund paymasters

[neilsmith]

So Sunak understood the risks. If Labour reverse the tax cuts they are back to Sunak’s tax plan. 2 months ago you could not find one person who supported his plan.