Kwasi Kwarteng says he is 'absolutely 100 per cent' not to step down as chancellor

Kwasi Kwarteng said he was "absolutely 100% 'not stepping down as Chancellor over criticism of his budget.

Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Mr Kwarteng played down talk of a U-turn on new measures, telling broadcasters during a trip to New York: "Our position hasn't changed."

The Chancellor said he would present the medium-term budget plan on October 31 and that "there will be more detail then".

This comes amid reports that there are talks in issue 10 about whether to roll back aspects of the budget package, which caused chaos in the market and drove up interest rates interest and the cost of public debt.

No 10 has already backed out of a plan to cut the top tax rate for high earners, but still finds itself with a fiscal black hole of tens of billions of pounds.

Reversing a planned reduction in corporate tax rates has been suggested as another possible U-turn to come.

This follows the revelation from The Independent earlier this week that officials at 10 Downing Street are going through the Chancellor's package line by line in search of possible raids to restore financial stability.

Mr. Kwarteng was speaking to broadcasters while traveling to New York for a meeting of the World Bank and the IMF - which criticized his policies.