Wow. Just wow. Talk about a U-turn. This has happened so fast, it’s a wonder Cabinet members aren’t getting whiplash. Liz Truss and her money man Kwasi Kwarteng just chucked the rulebook on the bonfire and it’s left us reeling.

For something that wasn’t even called a budget, and therefore did not come with normal OBR forecasts, Kwasi’s changes on Friday amount to the biggest tax cuts since the 1972 Budget.

Furthermore, the people who benefit most from the changes – and by some eye-watering way – are the wealthiest in society.

This would have been a bold move for the most seasoned of Chancellors during a cost of living crisis, but for someone who so new to the job? It’s a huge statement of intent from Team Truss. Trickle-down economics is back and it’s back with a vengeance.

Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the UK could be borrowing £120bn in three years’ time to pay for the measures.

Read on for the numbers and what many of the changes Kwarteng announced in his first ‘not-budget’ budget will mean for you.

We’ll explain what has been done, and it’s seismic. But first, why have they done it?

Let’s take the emotion out. Whether this not-so-mini budget is good or bad depends on how you look at it.

Think of it as a telescope. You look through one end and your view of the world is enlarged; look through the other and everything becomes small.

The economy can be explained in both ways and both are valuable. Zoom in and it’s all about me. This is the easiest way for most of us to understand big policy changes.

I pay more tax. You pay less tax. I get to save money buying a house. You don’t. I’m allowed to keep my £20million banker bonus. You get your benefits cut because you’re not trying hard enough to find a job.

But our new government is looking through the other end of the telescope. Zoom out and it’s about how the world sees us. Truss and Kwarteng are practically yelling – we’re Britain! We don’t do European bureaucracy any more. Come and make your money here.

In a word, this not-a-budget, was-actually-a-budget is about Brexit. The Conservatives were voted in by the people who voted the UK out of Europe. The pandemic threw a curve ball at Boris Johnson and Brexit was usurped by bailouts.

Like it or loathe it, Truss and Kwarteng have just done what Boris promised and didn’t deliver.

Given the pair were voted in by 160,000 card-carrying Tory party members, it’s maybe not surprising. But it’s a shock for the British people, who for 25 years have lived in an economy and country with centrist politics.

If the world buys in to this vision of a “new era” for post-Brexit Britain, the growth Truss and Kwarteng are promising might just save us.

That’s the gamble. It always was, it’s just arrived later than planned.

What the mini-budget means for your income bracket

If you earn £20,000 you’ll…

• Pay £38 less national insurance from November to April 5

• Save £167 in income tax and national insurance a year from April 6

If you earn £40,000 you’ll…

• Pay £142 less national insurance from November to April 5

• Save £617 in income tax and national insurance a year from April 6

If you earn £60,000 you’ll…

• Pay £247 less national insurance from November to April 5

• Save £969 in income tax and national insurance a year from April 6

If you earn £100,000 you’ll…

• Pay £455 less national insurance from November to April 5

• Save £1,469 in income tax and national insurance a year from April 6

If you earn £200,000 you’ll…

• Pay £976 less national insurance from November to April 5

• Save £5,220 in income tax and national insurance a year from April 6

(Source: EY)

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