BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom — UK Prime Minister
Liz Truss on Sunday conceded
she should have better prepared Britain for her recent debt-fueled minibudget
slashing taxes, which sparked market turmoil, dismal headlines, and disastrous
polls.
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Less than a month
into the job but already mired in a deep crisis, the new Tory leader insisted
the controversial plans would return Britain to economic growth, as it grapples
with decades-high inflation and imminent recession.
As her restive
ruling Conservative party’s annual conference gets underway in Birmingham,
Truss also sought to reassure critics she will reduce the extra government
borrowing earmarked to fund the tax cuts for the wealthiest.
“I do stand by the
package we announced ... but I do accept we should have laid the ground better
there,” Truss told the BBC in her first live TV appearance since the
contentious proposals were unveiled on September 23.
“We have a clear
plan moving forward both to deal with the energy crisis and to deal with
inflation, but also to get the economy growing,” she added, while also vowing
to curb government borrowing “over the medium term”.
‘Under a bus’
Opposition parties, much of the public and even Conservative MPs —
notably backers of her defeated leadership rival
Rishi Sunak — are aghast at
the minibudget announced by finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng.
It went further
than many had expected, abolishing the top rate of income tax and lifting a cap
on bankers’ bonuses.
Markets tanked in
response, and the Bank of England staged an emergency intervention to bail out
embattled pension funds, setting the stage for a difficult four-day gathering
in Birmingham.
Truss revealed
Sunday she had not discussed axing high-earners’ 45 percent tax rate with her
cabinet, and appeared to distance herself from the politically toxic move by
claiming “it was a decision that the chancellor made”.
That prompted an
immediate rebuke from erstwhile Tory MP ally Nadine Dorries, who accused her of
“throwing (Kwarteng) under a bus on the first day of conference”.
Poll rout
Reports suggest some Tory MPs could join opposition parties’ attempts to
block the most controversial aspects of the minibudget in parliament.
They emerge as a
raft of polls showed a dramatic slump in the standing of the party as well as
Truss and Kwarteng.
One Yougov survey
Friday found 51 percent of Britons think that she should resign — and 54
percent want the finance minister to go.
Several other
polls in recent days showed the
Labour party with mammoth leads of up to 33
points over the Conservatives — its biggest since the heyday of former Labour
prime minister Tony Blair in the late 1990s.
Echoing Blair,
Labour leader Keir Starmer insists that his party now represents mainstream UK
voters.
As it is, both
Sunak and former prime minister Boris Johnson are reportedly staying away from
Birmingham.
Existential threat?
Kwarteng is due to address the grassroots gathering on Monday, before
Truss closes it with the leader’s keynote speech on Wednesday.
Although both have
ruled out a U-turn on their economic package, they conceded ground Friday by
allowing the Office for
Budget Responsibility to send Kwarteng an initial
independent costing scorecard of it later next week.
But the OBR has
confirmed none of its assessments will be published until November 23 — something
critics are urging the government to bring forward.
In Birmingham, the
conference program has already been pared back to eliminate some of its fringe
partying following the September 8 death of Queen Elizabeth II — who appointed
Truss only two days before she died.
Many commentators
are urging contrition from the new leader, to avoid the kind of doomsday
scenario laid out by senior Tory MP Charles Walker.
A general election is not
due until January 2025 at the latest. But if one were held tomorrow, Walker
said, “we would cease to exist as a functioning political party”.
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