British Prime Minister Liz Truss
By Sachin Ravikumar and Elizabeth Piper
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Liz Truss has apologized for threatening Britain’s economic stability after she was forced to abandon her vast tax-cut plans and embark on an “eye-watering” public spending-cutting programme. .
After weeks of blaming markets and “global headwinds” for investors liquidating the pound and government bonds, Truss said she regretted going “too far and too fast” with her radical economic plan to pull the UK out of years of growth. stagnant.
Markets, which plummeted after her Sept 23 “mini-budget”, are still under pressure even after new finance minister Jeremy Hunt reversed Truss’ plans on Monday, and now the premier is struggling to survive. , just six weeks after becoming prime minister.
It was unclear whether Truss’ apology will prevent a growing rebellion in her Conservative Party, with a handful of lawmakers calling for her to step down. Dozens fear losing their positions in the next elections.
“I want to accept responsibility and apologize for the mistakes that have been made,” Truss told the BBC on Monday.
“I wanted to take action to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the high tax issue, but we went too far and too fast.”
She added that she “will stick around” and that she will lead the Conservatives in the next election in about two years, although the statement was accompanied by a laugh.
Truss silently watched in Parliament on Monday as Hunt demolished the economic plan she proposed less than a month ago, which had set off such deep turmoil in the bond market that the Bank of England had to act to prevent pension funds from would collapse.
Truss held a meeting of his cabinet team on Tuesday and is expected to speak later with his lawmakers, who have been told by some close to the government to delay any move to overthrow her before the government presents its full fiscal plan on 31 December. October.
With the UK’s economic reputation shaken, Hunt may now have to go further in pursuing public spending cuts than the government would have done had Truss not launched his economic plan at a time of rising inflation.
Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank, told BBC radio that the government may need to find public spending cuts of around £30 billion ($34 billion), a politically very difficult task after successive Conservative governments cut departmental budgets over the last 10 years.
One area of spending that should already be hit is Truss’ vast two-year energy support package, which is expected to cost well over £100 billion.
Hunt said support for households and businesses will now last until April before being revised, leading analysts to say households could face energy bills of £5,000 next year.
(Additional reporting by William James, Andrew MacAskill, Kylie MacLellan and Paul Sandle)
((Translation by Editora São Paulo, +55 11 5047-3075)) REUTERS FC TR
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