Truss backs off naming Romero to lead British treasury

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Liz Truss rejected Antonia Romeo to take over as the country's permanent treasury secretary on Monday.

Romeo was favored by Truss' Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng for the tole and the two had initially been on the same page about the current head of the Justice ministry, going as far as appointing her to the role last week. Truss, though, has apparently done an about-face to appoint James Bowler, who leads the Department of International Trade.

Romero, who had no experience in the treasury, was seen as a "disruptor" who would not be bound by the norms and conventions of past treasury heads. The Financial Times reported that Truss likely yielded to go a safer route given the turmoil already caused by a tax cuts proposal, which has now been revised to exclude high-end earners.

Truss's new government had faced withering criticism within the country and abroad since Sept. 23 when they introduced the unfunded tax cuts, the steepest seen in Britain since the 1970s. Just their proposal of them led to a large selloff of British government bonds and a dramatic loss of the value of the pound against the U.S. dollar.

Even the Washington-based International Monetary Fund called on Truss's government to back off the tax cuts because of rampant inflation amid the cost of living emergency.

Kwarteng had also said he plans to balance the government's finances to Oct. 31, nearly a month earlier than initially planned.