LONDON —
Britain’s beleaguered
Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed Wednesday not to cut
public spending, once again defending last month’s uncosted tax-slashing
minibudget that has sparked weeks of UK market turmoil.
اضافة اعلان
Appearing in
parliament for the first time since the contentious September 23 plans prompted
economic upheaval, Truss said she was “absolutely” committed to pledges made
during the summer’s Tory leadership campaign to maintain current spending.
With currency,
bond and other markets spooked by the extra borrowing earmarked to pay for tax
cuts, fears have grown that Truss will slash government department budgets,
returning to the unpopular austerity policy of a decade ago.
But the
47-year-old leader insisted that would not happen, while doubling down on her
tax plans and reducing debt.
“What we will
make sure is that over the medium-term the debt is falling,” Truss told MPs, in
only her second “Prime Minister’s Questions” session in the House of Commons
since succeeding Boris Johnson early last month.
“We will do that
not by cutting public spending but by spending public money well,” she added.
Her policies would “protect our economy”, she argued.
Truss also
insisted her controversial economic package announced by Chancellor of the
Exchequer
Kwasi Kwarteng to reduce several different taxes would result in
“higher growth and lower inflation”.
‘Lost in denial’
But the initial impact from it has been uniformly negative. The pound has
plunged to unprecedented lows against the dollar, while government borrowing
and mortgage rates have spiraled.
The Bank of
England has been forced to make several emergency interventions in bond
markets, while the economy unexpectedly shrank in August after slender growth
the previous month amid a cost-of-living crisis and rocketing energy bills.
Labour leader
Keir Starmer accused Truss of being “lost in denial” and “ducking
responsibility” as she refused to acknowledge the economic fallout from her
policies, instead blaming global factors such as the war in Ukraine for
unsettling markets.
Media reports
have suggested that the minibudget — already watered down with the scrapping of
plans to axe the top rate of tax — could be further revised during a
line-by-line review.
But Truss’s
spokesman rubbished the claims immediately after her weekly House of Commons
questions.
“We are
committed to the measures that the Chancellor set out in the growth plan,” he
told reporters.
Truss was “firmly of the
view that is the right approach to take to ensure we move away from low or no
growth”, he added.
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