Kwasi Kwarteng has dramatically abandoned plans to scrap the 45p rate of income tax in a major U-turn for Liz Truss's Government.

The Chancellor said this morning that to go ahead with the move would have been a "distraction".

It comes just hours before he makes a make-or-break speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham about his economic policy.

As late as last night, the Treasury said he was going to use the occasion to say he was going to "stay the course" and stick to all the plans outlined in last month's controversial mini-Budget.

Read your updates here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/03/liz-truss-news-kwarteng-45p-tax-conservative-conference-updates/

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