UK's new government makes major tax U-turn after uproarKwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss (R). Photo: AFP

Britain's beleaguered finance minister on Monday announced a dramatic U-turn on a tax cut announced as part of an economic package that has bombed with the markets, electorate and his party. The change of course by Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, and by Prime Minister Liz Truss, raised questions about their right-wing project less than a month after she succeeded Boris Johnson. "We get it, and we have listened," Kwarteng said on Twitter, announcing that he would no longer be scrapping the 45 per cent top rate of income tax levied on the highest earners. Their plan also comprises lifting a cap on bankers' bonuses and reversing a planned rise in corporation tax as well as a recent hike in national insurance contributions. At the same time, they are refusing to rule out cuts to spending and benefits in the middle of Britain's worst cost-of-living crisis in generations. The perceived unfairness of the package had ignited a political storm, with senior Tory MPs refusing to confirm they would support it in parliament, as well as tanking with voters in opinion polls. On the markets, Truss and Kwarteng's intention to pay for the tax cuts with billions more in extra...