UK to reverse cut to higher rate income tax

The British government is expected to reverse the proposed scrapping of the highest rate of income tax that has sparked a backlash in the governing Conservative Party, the BBC reported on Monday.

Finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng sent shockwaves through financial markets when he published a mini-budget on Sept. 23, cutting taxes including the 45p highest rate of income tax, in a plan to be funded by vast government borrowing.

The government had stuck to the policy ever since, even as the value of the pound and government bonds fell, but several senior lawmakers have stepped up their opposition to the policy at the party's annual conference which began on Sunday.

The BBC said the government was expected to make an announcement in the next hour. No one at the Treasury was immediately available to comment.