Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng — architect of the disastrous mini-Budget — has announced he will stand down as an MP at the next general election.
The member of Parliament for Spelthorne in Surrey, who was Chancellor for 38 days in 2022, said on X: “Yesterday I informed my association chair of my decision not to stand at the next general election.
“It has been an honour to serve the residents of Spelthorne since 2010, and I shall continue to do so for the remainder of my time in Parliament.”
Kwarteng, who became the UK’s first black Conservative cabinet minister in 2021, as business secretary, will be remembered for delivering the mini-Budget on 23 September 2023, which set out £45bn of unfunded tax cuts.
The effect of his fiscal statement sparked a meltdown across UK financial markets that led to hikes in mortgage rates, a fall in the value of the pound, the danger of widespread failure across the pensions industry and rises in the cost of UK government borrowing.
He was sacked by the then Prime Minister Liz Truss, a long-standing ally, days later. Truss was forced to resign shortly after, serving 45 days in office.
Kwarteng was replaced by current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt who reversed the majority of the mini-Budget in an intervention in October and at the Autumn Statement in November.
In the mortgage market, permanent stamp duty cuts introduced in September saw the nil-rate band being doubled to £250,000 and the first-time buyer threshold increasing to £425,000, as well as the value of a property on which FTBs can claim relief was upped to £625,000.
This was made temporary until March 2025 by Hunt in November.
Also, in November, inheritance tax thresholds were frozen for two more years at the current nil rate band of £325,000, while the current residence nil rate band stands at £175,000.
Kwarteng’s brief tenure as chancellor made him the second shortest-serving chancellor behind the Conservative’s Iain Macleod, who died a month after taking office in 1970.
More than 80 MPs have announced they will leave Parliament at the next election, including more than 50 Conservatives or former Conservatives.
The next general election is expected by the end of this year, with Labour leading the Conservatives by some 20 points across most polls.
