THE economic chaos provoked by the new Chancellor's mini-budget on Friday continues. Today the Bank of England was forced to make an unprecedented intervention in a bid to restore some stability to markets which responded to the mini-budget in much the same way that anyone with a functioning intelligence or social conscience would react to an invitation to a Donald Trump rally. The money markets are not noted for their social conscience, which makes their response to Kwarteng's budget and its tax cuts for the rich all the more remarkable and shocking.

Today the Bank of England has announced that it is buying up government debt. This is not because of external factors, it is not because of 'global financial volatility', it is purely because of the irresponsible actions of the Conservative party in government.

The Bank of England has been forced to intervene in order to protect the British economy from the British Government, that is a truly incredible state of affairs. The markets are in panic and the government has lost control of the economy. Sam Coates, the political editor of Sky News reported that he was told by a city source that it's hard to overstate how serious the situation is today. The Bank of England has acted because there is concern over the health of pension funds.

Yet there was no need for any of this. We are only in this mess because of the ideologically-driven decision of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to introduce huge tax cuts which will do little to help ordinary working people deal with the cost-of-living crisis but which will only further boost the already bloated bank accounts of the wealthy, and to fund it by a massive expansion of public borrowing. It has been described as the greatest unforced economic error in living memory and a self-inflicted financial crisis by the Truss government. 

According to Professor Danny Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, "Kwasi Kwarteng has crashed the markets ... his credibility is completely trashed ... I have never seen such raging incompetence ever. What's the Prime Minister going to say, well at the moment she seems to be in hiding."

When he was a student at Oxford and a member of the Bullingdon Club, Boris Johnson is alleged to have burned a £50 note in front of a homeless person begging on the streets. Not to be outdone, Kwasi Kwarteng has burned the entire British currency in front of the whole world. The collapsing pound will feed through into higher costs for imported goods, fueling inflation even further.

Lenders are suspending new mortgages and the expected rise in interest rates is predicted to cause soaring mortgage payments and rent hikes - on top of the energy bill crisis and rises in food bills. The UK is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, millions of people are genuinely afraid that they will no longer be able to afford to heat their homes, put food on the table, or indeed keep a roof over their heads, and yet Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are nowhere to be seen.   

In times of national crisis it is the duty and responsibility of those who lead to step up and speak out, to provide reassurance, calm nerves, and offer solutions. Truss and Kwarteng are doing none of these things. They are as invisible as Douglas Ross whenever there is bad news for the Tory party.

It is an unforgivable dereliction of duty. The Prime Minister should be speaking up. But it's no wonder Truss is trying to keep a low profile, she has even crashed the pork markets. Talking about Douglas Ross, where are all the Tory MSPs who a few days ago were hailing Kwarteng's genius budget and demanding that the Scottish Government copy it.

This is the biggest economic disaster since Black Wednesday in the 1990s when the UK crashed out of the ERM. The International Monetary Fund has sharply criticised the British Government's economic policy, the markets are in panic. Millions of people are staring penury in the face thanks to the decision of the British Government to reward the rich.

The Conservatives have plunged the UK into an economic crisis and the PM and Chancellor are AWOL. The intervention from the Bank of England is unprecedented. People are rightly anxious about the spectre of another interest rate rise. Parliament needs to be recalled urgently, and BBC Scotland are still waffling on about ferries.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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