The chancellor has admitted it has been a tough day after he was forced to U-turn on cutting income tax for the rich.

Kwasi Kwarteng began his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference by saying: “What a day, it has been tough but we need to focus on the job in hand.”

Just hours earlier he announced he was ditching plans to remove the 45p rate of income tax for the wealthiest 1%, announced at the mini-budget 10 days ago.

He admitted his economic plan had caused “a little turbulence” but he continued to back his vision for growth, saying: “With economic growth, everybody benefits, and I mean, everybody.”

After acknowledging the U-turn briefly, he said the government was ploughing ahead with boosting economic growth across the UK.

“We need to move forward. No more distractions. We have a plan and we need to get on and deliver it. That is what the public expect from the government,” he told Tory members in Birmingham.

“We’ve done it before and we can do it again.”

Politics live: Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng vows ‘no more distractions’ as he admits ‘tough day’ after 45p tax rate U-turn

Truss and Kwarteng U-turn on plan for 45p tax rate for highest earners

Liz Truss’s U-turn on 45p tax rate for highest earners will embolden her many critics in the Tory party

The chancellor said the path the country was on was “unsustainable” and said “we had no choice, the price of inaction would have been far greater than the cost of the scheme”.

And he said his plan to cut taxes to boost growth “isn’t radical, isn’t irresponsible” and will put more money in people’s pockets.

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates said: “There was just so much not addressed so you were left thinking what was it he wanted people to take away from that?

“At this conference they’re desperate to try to get some political credit for the £45 billion they’ve committed to spending.”

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