Prime Minister Liz Truss during a press conference in the briefing room at Downing Street, London. Picture date: Friday, October 14, 2022.
Liz Truss has blamed the “powerful economic establishment” for her disastrous tenure as prime minister.
In her first public comments since being forced to quit Number 10 after just 49 days, she took aim at a wide range of political opponents as she insisted her plans to boost economic growth by cutting taxes were right.
In a 4,000-word article for the Sunday Telegraph, Truss blamed Treasury officials, Joe Biden, the International Monetary Fund, MPs and the Office for Budget Responsibility for making her job impossible.
Truss’s time in office ended after the economic collapse caused by his Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which revealed £45 billion worth of unfunded tax cuts.
As a result, the value of the pound fell, interest rates rose and the Bank of England was forced to bail out the UK pension industry.
Although she admits she was “not to blame” for the fiasco, Truss was furious that she clearly has no regrets about the economic policies she pursued – and slammed the approach of her successor, Rishi Sunak.
She said: “I still believe it was the right thing to do trying to deliver the basic policy administration I fought the leadership election for, but the forces against him were too good.
“I’m not claiming that I’m blameless in what happened, but basically I wasn’t given a realistic opportunity to enact my policies through a very powerful economic establishment, combined with a lack of political support.”
In a clear dig at Sunak, she made it clear she was opposed to the upcoming rise in corporation tax from 19p to 25p in the pound – a policy he introduced as chancellor, but failed to push through cancel it.
Truss said she wanted to be Prime Minister to change things rather than “manage decline or preside over our country’s slide into stagnation”.
Liz Truss set out her thoughts in an article for the Sunday Telegraph
Meanwhile, it also emerged that Truss – who is expected to make several media appearances next week – preparing to give a “hawkish” speech on China later this month.
She will address a conference of international politicians in Japan, and her speech will focus on Beijing’s threat to Taiwan.
The event is being organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a campaign group seeking to coordinate international pressure on Beijing. on February 17.
One alliance of Truss said the speech will be “hawkish”, adding: “It is expected to address Sunak’s decision to brand China as a strategic competitor rather than a threat.”
In November, Sunak said the “golden era” of UK-China relations was over but described the nation as a “systemic challenge” rather than a threat.