Truss overrules Kwarteng on number of UK investment zonesPrime minister dismisses Treasury concerns over loss of £12bn tax revenueLiz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng at a construction site in Birmingham. Truss insisted the UK should not set a limit on the number of applications for low-tax investment zones

Peter Foster and George Parker in London and Jennifer Williams in Manchester

Liz Truss has overruled her chancellor and insisted the UK should not set a limit on the number of applications for low-tax investment zones despite internal Treasury concerns the projects could cost billions of pounds in lost taxes.

The flagship policy designed to turbocharge UK investment is a key plank of Truss’s “dash for growth” but Whitehall insiders said that it had caused serious misgivings in the Treasury.They added that before September’s “mini”-budget chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng twice tried to persuade Truss to limit the number of zones to 40 — with Treasury officials warning the prime minister the zones could create a tax liability of “up to £12bn” a year — but was overruled by Downing Street.

Source: Truss overrules Kwarteng on number of UK investment zones | Financial Times

Northern Comment Editor – Which bit of “Fiscal Responsibility” does Liz Truss not understand? Just as there is some sign the markets are regaining confidence the PM throws in another reduction in the Governments revenue.

At the very least this will make the Chancellor’s job of balancing the budget even harder, up to £12bn harder. At worst it adds to the perception of fiscal incompetence in the markets and may lead to further increases in government, and therefore everybody else’s, borrowing costs.