LONDON — British
Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed on Wednesday not
to quit as she faced booing lawmakers at her first parliamentary questions
since abandoning a disastrous tax-slashing economic plan.
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Truss faced hostile queries from opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer,
who asked the House of Commons: “What’s the point of a prime minister whose
promises don’t even last a week?”
Starmer mocked Truss by leading his MPs in chants of “Gone, gone!” as he
read out a list of her dropped policies. “Why is she still here?” he concluded.
Truss responded defiantly: “I am a fighter and not a quitter”, insisting
that “I am someone who is prepared to front up. I’m prepared to take the tough
decisions”.
She said: “I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have
economic stability.”
The session took place less than 48 hours after new finance minister
Jeremy Hunt dismembered Truss’s flagship tax plans in a humiliating blow. He
sat at her side in parliament, nodding along to her responses.
While castigating Truss for conducting “an economic experiment on the
British public”, Starmer said dismissively: “How could she be held to account
when she’s not in charge?”
At least five Conservative party MPs have already publicly called for her
to be replaced amid catastrophic popularity ratings.
In a sign of her weak hold on power, she pulled out of a planned event on
Wednesday, reportedly over fears she may lose a key vote on a fracking ban.
Polls show Truss’s personal and party ratings have plummeted, with
YouGov saying Tuesday that — within six weeks of taking power — she had become the
most unpopular leader it has ever tracked.
A separate survey of party members found that less than two months after
electing her as Tory leader and prime minister, a majority now think she should
go.
Foreign minister James Cleverly defended Truss on Sky News on Wednesday,
however, saying he was “far from convinced” that “defenestrating another prime
minister will either convince the British people that we’re thinking about them
or convince the markets to stay calm”.
Meanwhile, the main Labour opposition has opened up huge poll leads over
the ruling Conservatives, amid the recent fallout as well as the worsening
cost-of-living crisis, with inflation jumping above 10 percent on Wednesday on
soaring food prices.
More than three-quarters of people disapprove of the government — the
highest in 11 years, YouGov said.
‘Difficult
decisions’
The government’s September 23 mini-budget — which
slashed a host of taxes without curbing spending — sent bond yields spiking and
the pound collapsing to a record dollar-low on fears of rocketing UK debt.
Truss last week
staged two U-turns, scrapping planned tax cuts for the richest earners and on
company profits, and fired her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng as finance minister.
After appointing Hunt as his successor, she agreed to further reverse
course, axing almost all the other cuts and partially rowing back on energy
price support for consumers.
A cap on costs was set to last two years but will now end for many next
April.
Hunt’s warnings of further “eye watering cuts” prompted reports that the
government could stop indexing current pensions to inflation and use earnings
as a benchmark instead, breaking a manifesto commitment and dividing MPs.
Truss said in parliament that she would maintain the commitment, however.
During the summer leadership campaign which saw Truss beat former
chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak to succeed ex-premier Boris Johnson,
she vowed not to reduce public spending.
But after the economic tumult of recent weeks saw government borrowing
rates spiral, Truss and Hunt have warned of “difficult decisions” and urged
government departments to find savings.
Opposition parties are demanding she stand down and a general election —
not due for two years — is held.
“Will she do the decent thing and go and call a general election?” Labour
MP Sarah Owen asked in parliament.
Under current party rules Truss cannot be challenged by a no-confidence
vote in her first year, but speculation is rife the rules could be changed to
allow for a ballot.
Conservative
lawmakers so far have failed to coalesce around a contender to replace her,
with Johnson and Sunak both touted but each likely to draw significant
opposition from factions within the party.
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