Liz Truss to urge government to cut taxes – and insist her economic plan would have worked

Published

2 years ago

September 18, 2023

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Liz Truss is set to urge the government to cut taxes – and insist her plan to grow the economy would eventually have worked.

A year on from her disastrous mini-budget, the former Tory prime minister will also say it was unfair to suggest her programme of tax cuts, amounting to £45bn, was unfunded.

She and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, were in a “rush” to get “results”, she will admit during a speech at the Institute for Government thinktank in central London on Monday.

But Ms Truss will also blame her swift demise on reaction from the “political and economic establishment which fed into the markets”.

Her remarks come after the former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, launched a scathing attack on Ms Truss – accusing her government of turning Britain into “Argentina on the Channel”.

In her speech, Ms Truss will say: “I was effectively forced into a policy reversal under the threat of a UK meltdown.”

She will also claim that describing her planned tax cuts as unfunded is “not a fair or accurate description”.

Ms Truss will add: “Independent calculations by the Centre for Economics and Business Research suggest that cutting the higher rate of income tax and the ‘tourist tax’ would have increased rather than decreased revenues within five years.

“So quite the opposite of being unfunded, these tax cuts could have increased funding for our public services.”

The policies of her successor, Rishi Sunak, will come under fire too.

Ms Truss, who was in office for only 49 days, will claim Mr Sunak’s government has spent £35bn more than she would have had she remained in Downing Street.

“Investment would not have faltered in the North Sea, were it not for the windfall tax,” she will say.

“We would have got moving on fracking and lower energy bills would now be on the horizon.

“A more competitive rate of corporation tax would have persuaded the likes of AstraZeneca not to relocate elsewhere.

“There would have been more duty-free shoppers and a boom in the number of self-employed.”

Ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, Ms Truss will call for corporation tax to be reduced back down to 19%.

She will also suggest binning the tourist tax (VAT imposed on visitors) and abolishing the windfall tax.

Ahead of her address, Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth has written to the prime minister, calling on him to block Ms Truss’s yet-to-be published resignation honours list.

In the letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Ashworth said: “Families and business across Britain are still paying (the) price for the Conservative Party crashing the economy and leaving working people worse off, with higher taxes, higher mortgages and higher food and energy bills.

“Despite this, it has been widely reported that Liz Truss has submitted up to 14 people to receive resignation honours.

“This means that those who crashed the economy, who left millions to pay more for their mortgage and who undermined our economic institutions could receive an award.

“I urge you to block these honours.”

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper mocked Ms Truss.

She said: “Liz Truss giving a speech on economic growth is like an arsonist giving a talk on fire safety.”

Politics

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is ‘totally’ up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

Published

2 hours ago

July 3, 2025

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is 'totally' up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

The chancellor has said she was having a “tough day” yesterday in her first public comments since appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions – but insisted she is “totally” up for the job.

Rachel Reeves told broadcasters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.

“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government, and that’s what I tried to do.

“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”

Politics latest: PM sets out 10-year NHS plan

She declined to give a reason behind the tears, saying “it was a personal issue” and “it wouldn’t be right” to divulge it.

“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.

Ms Reeves also said she is “totally” up for the job of chancellor, saying: “This is the job that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m proud of what I’ve delivered as chancellor.”

Asked if she was surprised that Sir Keir Starmer did not back her more strongly during PMQs, she reiterated that she and the prime minister are a “team”, saying: “We fought the election together, we changed the Labour Party together so that we could be in the position to return to power, and over the past year, we’ve worked in lockstep together.”

PM: ‘I was last to appreciate’ that Reeves was crying

The chancellor’s comments come after the prime minister told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that he “didn’t appreciate” that she was crying behind him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday because the weekly sessions are “pretty wild”, which is why he did not offer her any support while in the chamber.

He added: “It wasn’t just yesterday – no prime minister ever has had side conversations during PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there’s a bit more time, but in PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang. That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.

The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening – but a total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill, which was the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s lone parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.

Reeves looks transformed – but this has been a disastrous week for the PM

It is a Rachel Reeves transformed that appears in front of the cameras today, nearly 24 hours since one of the most extraordinary PMQs.

Was there a hint of nervousness as she started, aware of the world watching for any signs of human emotion? Was there a touch of feeling in her face as the crowds applauded her?

People will speculate. But Ms Reeves has got through her first public appearance, and can now, she hopes, move on.

The prime minister embraced her as he walked on stage, the health secretary talked her up: “Thanks to her leadership, we have seen wages rising faster than the cost of living.”

A show of solidarity at the top of government, a prime minister and chancellor trying to get on with business.

But be in no doubt today’s speech on a 10-year-plan for the NHS has been overshadowed. Not just by a chancellor in tears, but what that image represents.

A PM who, however assured he appeared today, has marked his first year this week, as Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby put to him, with a “self-inflicted shambles”.

She asked: “How have you got this so wrong? How can you rebuild trust? Are you just in denial?”

They are questions Starmer will be grappling with as he tries to move past a disastrous week.

Ms Reeves has borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.

Ms Badenoch also said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she will, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

Downing Street scrambled to make clear to journalists that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere”, and the prime minister has since stated publicly that she will remain as chancellor “for many years to come”.