Reax to UK government U-turn on 45% tax change

The U.K. government on Monday defended its decision to reverse a planned income tax cut for the highest earners, claiming it was a "distraction" from a wider package of financial reforms.

The British Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Monday released a statement on Twitter saying that the government was "not proceeding with the abolition" of the top 45% rate of income tax paid on earnings above 150,000 pounds ($167,000) a year.

Speaking to U.K. broadcaster Sky, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philip said the top rate tax cut had been a small part of a package of measures, and that the government was "proceeding with all the rest of the growth plan, the other 95 percent of it".