ISALAMABAD, Aug 06 (Alliance News): A member of the British Cabinet has admitted that he does not know where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is.
As the prime minister was leaving for vacation, the Bank of England warned that a year-long recession was imminent, according to foreign media report.
Boris Johnson has been on honeymoon with his wife Kerry since Wednesday, Downing Street declined to say where they were but The Times newspaper said the couple were in Slovenia.
Boris Johnson would have had plenty of time after September 6, when he is due to hand over the leadership of the Conservative Party to Liz Truss or Rishi Sink, but he decided to take an early break.
The opposition Labor Party accused the government’s two most senior ministers of being absent from the situation as Finance Chancellor Nadeem Zahawi is also on leave this week.
“I don’t know where Boris is but I am in constant contact with him,” Business Secretary and Liz Truss supporter Kwasi Kwarting told Times Radio.
He said he exchanged WhatsApp messages with both Boris Johnson and Nadeem Zahawi ‘all the time’ and insisted the criticism was ‘false’ the government was doing nothing about the economic crisis.
Nadeem Zahavi said he was in touch with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Thursday after the central bank raised interest rates to 1.75 percent from 1.25 percent, the biggest increase in 27 years.
The bank is trying to rein in rising inflation, which it warned could reach 13.3 percent, while predicting that the UK economy will enter recession in the fourth quarter of 2023. It will continue till the end.
Foreign Secretary Riz Truss and Rishi Singh, Zahavi’s predecessor as chancellor, clashed again on how to handle the crisis in a televised debate on Thursday.
Riz Truss, who is leading a poll of Tory MPs, told reporters that ‘the reality is that if we continue with our business policies as usual, we will be facing a recession’.
They routinely plan an emergency budget to cut taxes immediately to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and review the inflation-fighting mandate of the independent Bank of England.
Rishi Shankar, however, said the tax cuts, financed with higher borrowing, would force the bank to raise interest rates further, stressing the need to maintain fiscal tightness and contain price pressures first. Gives
Former cabinet minister Liam Fox, who backs Rishi-Sink, warned against a ‘magical fix’ through the debt-financed tax cuts proposed by the Rise Truss.Britain’s economic crisis is serious, Boris Johnson goes on holiday