The Kenyan president said he would bow to pressure and withdraw planned tax rises after protesters ransacked parliament leaving more than 20 people dead.

William Ruto told a press conference: “I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn… The people have spoken.”

Mr Ruto said he would start a dialogue with the Kenyan youth and work on austerity measures – starting with cuts to the budget of the presidency – to make up the difference in the country’s finances.

But he warned the withdrawal of the finance bill would also mean a significant shortfall in funding for development programmes designed to help farmers and schoolteachers, among others, as the East African nation struggles to lower its foreign debt burden.

The intensity of the opposition to the tax rises has taken Mr Ruto’s administration by surprise as the largely peaceful rallies turned violent on Tuesday.

During the violence, police fired live rounds into crowds that ransacked the partly ablaze parliament complex.

The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said it had recorded 22 deaths and 300 injured victims, adding that they would launch an investigation.

Frustration over the rising cost of living escalated this last week as lawmakers began debating the bill containing the tax rises.

Mr Ruto’s cash-strapped government said the increases were needed to service the country’s massive debt of some 10 trillion shillings (£61.7 billion), equal to roughly 70 per cent of Kenya’s GDP.