Prime Minister Liz Truss defends economic strategy despite fiscal chaos after mini-budget

Published

3 years ago

September 29, 2022

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Liz Truss has insisted “decisive action” by the government over its economic policies will help the UK going forward.

Speaking to reporters, the prime minister said: “We have to look at what situation this country would be in if we hadn’t acted – people were facing fuel bills of up to £6,000, we had very high inflation expectations and an economic slow down.

“And what we have done is taken decisive action.”

Interviewer hits out at Truss’s ‘scripted’ answers – economy latest

The PM focused on the government’s plan to tackle rising energy costs announced at the start of her premiership – namely a price guarantee that the average household’s monthly bill won’t pass £2,500 for two years, though those who use more energy will pay more, and six months of equivalent support for businesses.

“It is a difficult time,” she said. “We are facing a global economic crisis brought about by Putin’s war in Ukraine, and what was right was that Britain took decisive action to help people get through what is going to be a difficult winter.”

But it was the raft of tax-cutting policies announced by her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday – including scrapping the top rate of tax and reversing the rise in National Insurance, all to be paid for through borrowing – that got markets spooked.

After the so-called mini-budget, the pound dropped, the IMF condemned the plans, and the Bank of England was forced to intervene to stop some pensions from collapsing.

Opposition leaders have demanded the Conservatives cancel their upcoming conference, which starts in Birmingham on Saturday, to recall parliament and to scrap its proposals.

Yet Ms Truss is ploughing ahead, despite criticism over the economic policies from her own benches, telling reporters: “We need to continue to make sure we deliver the economic growth, that we deliver the jobs and opportunities and that is the long term future that we have set out.”

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The PM’s first outing in front of the press following Friday’s so-called “fiscal event” was on local BBC radio stations this morning, where she insisted the government had “done the right thing” on the economy.

She said she was prepared to take “controversial and difficult decisions” because “what is important to me is we get our economy moving, we make sure that people are able to get through this winter and we are prepared to do what it takes to make that happen”.

But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said her answers had “made this disastrous situation even worse”, adding: “It is disgraceful that the family finances of people across the country are being put on the line simply so the government can give huge unfunded tax cuts to the richest companies and those earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

“This is a serious situation made in Downing Street and is the direct result of the Conservative government’s reckless actions.”

‘Plenty of areas’ for efficiency

During the later interview with reporters, the PM was also unable to suggest what efficiency savings government departments could make, despite reports that a letter will be sent to ministers today to ask for cost saving plans.

“There are always ways we can organise things more efficiently,” she told reporters.

“What I want to make sure is tax payer money is focused on frontline services, on getting our GP appointments, making sure people can get to see a doctor, making sure we deliver on our road projects – all of those things that people rely on us for.

“But there are plenty of areas where the government can become more efficient.”

Asked if she could give an example, she replied: “Not at the moment. We are continually reviewing to make sure we are getting good value for money and I think that is what taxpayers expect.”

World

What’s it like with the National Guard on the streets of DC?

Published

4 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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What's it like with the National Guard on the streets of DC?

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What’s it like on the streets of DC right now, as thousands of federal police patrol the streets?

Who is Steve Witkoff, the US envoy regularly meeting Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu to broker peace in Ukraine and Gaza?

And why is Californian Governor Gavin Newsom now tweeting like Donald Trump?

Martha Kelner and Mark Stone answer your questions.

If you’ve also got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

World

It’s been a confusing week – and Trump’s been made to look weak

Published

4 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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It’s been a confusing week.

The Monday gathering of European leaders and Ukraine’s president with Donald Trump at the White House was highly significant.

Ukraine latest: Trump changes tack

The leaders went home buoyed by the knowledge that they’d finally convinced the American president not to abandon Europe. He had committed to provide American “security guarantees” to Ukraine.

The details were sketchy, and sketched out only a little more through the week (we got some noise about American air cover), but regardless, the presidential commitment represented a clear shift from months of isolationist rhetoric on Ukraine – “it’s Europe’s problem” and all the rest of it.

Yet it was always the case that, beyond that clear achievement for the Europeans, Russia would have a problem with it.

Trump’s envoy’s language last weekend – claiming that Putin had agreed to Europe providing “Article 5-like” guarantees for Ukraine, essentially providing it with a NATO-like collective security blanket – was baffling.

Russia gives two fingers to the president

And throughout this week, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly and predictably undermined the whole thing, pointing out that Russia would never accept any peace plan that involved any European or NATO troops in Ukraine.

“The presence of foreign troops in Ukraine is completely unacceptable for Russia,” he said yesterday, echoing similar statements stretching back years.

Remember that NATO’s “eastern encroachment” was the justification for Russia’s “special military operation” – the invasion of Ukraine – in the first place. All this makes Trump look rather weak.

It’s two fingers to the president, though interestingly, the Russian language has been carefully calibrated not to poke Trump but to mock European leaders instead. That’s telling.

The bilateral meeting (between Putin and Zelenskyy) hailed by Trump on Monday as agreed and close – “within two weeks” – looks decidedly doubtful.

Maybe that’s why he went along with Putin’s suggestion that there be a bilateral, not including Trump, first.

It’s easier for the American president to blame someone else if it’s not his meeting, and it doesn’t happen.

NATO defence chiefs met on Wednesday to discuss the details of how the security guarantees – the ones Russia won’t accept – will work.

European sources at the meeting have told me it was all a great success. And to the comments by Lavrov, a source said: “It’s not up to Lavrov to decide on security guarantees. Not up to the one doing the threatening to decide how to deter that threat!”

The argument goes that it’s not realistic for Russia to say from which countries Ukraine can and cannot host troops.

Would Trump threaten force?

The problem is that if Europe and the White House want Russia to sign up to some sort of peace deal, then it would require agreement from all sides on the security arrangements.

The other way to get Russia to heel would be with an overwhelming threat of force. Something from Trump, like: “Vladimir – look what I did to Iran…”. But, of course, Iran isn’t a nuclear power.

Something else bothers me about all this. The core concept of a “security guarantee” is an ironclad obligation to defend Ukraine into the future.

Future guarantees would require treaties, not just a loose promise. I don’t see Trump’s America truly signing up to anything that obliges them to do anything.

A layered security guarantee which builds over time is an option, but from a Kremlin perspective, would probably only end up being a repeat of history and allow them another “justification” to push back.

Image and reality don’t seem to match

Among Trump’s stream of social media posts this week was an image of him waving his finger at Putin in Alaska. It was one of the few non-effusive images from the summit.

He posted it next to an image of former president Richard Nixon confronting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev – an image that came to reflect American dominance over the Soviet Union.

That may be the image Trump wants to portray. But the events of the past week suggest image and reality just don’t match.

The past 24 hours in Ukraine have been among the most violent to date.

World

At least 17 dead in Colombia after car bombing and helicopter attack

Published

4 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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At least 17 dead in Colombia after car bombing and helicopter attack

At least 17 people were killed after a car bombing and an attack on a police helicopter in Colombia, officials have said.

Authorities in the southwest city of Cali said a vehicle loaded with explosives detonated near a military aviation school, killing five people and injuring more than 30.

Authorities said at least 12 died in the attack on a helicopter transporting personnel to an area in Antioquia in northern Colombia, where they were to destroy coca leaf crops – the raw material used in the production of cocaine.

Antioquia governor Andres Julian said a drone attacked the helicopter as it flew over coca leaf crops.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro attributed both incidents to dissidents of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

He said the aircraft was targeted in retaliation for a cocaine seizure that allegedly belonged to the Gulf Clan.

Who are FARC, and are they still active?

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a Marxist guerrilla organisation, was the largest of the country’s rebel groups, and grew out of peasant self-defence forces.

It was formed in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, carrying out a series of attacks against political and economic targets.

In 2016, after more than 50 years of civil war, FARC rebels and the Colombian government signed a peace deal.

It officially ceased to be an armed group the following year – but some small dissident groups rejected the agreement and refused to disarm.

According to a report by Colombia’s Truth Commission in 2022, fighting between government forces, FARC, and the militant group National Liberation Army had killed around 450,000 people between 1985 and 2018.

Both FARC dissidents and members of the Gulf Clan operate in Antioquia.

It comes as a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that coca leaf cultivation is on the rise in Colombia.

The area under cultivation reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the UN’s latest available report.