United Kingdom: Liz Truss reaffirms her economic policies despite criticism

First modification: 06/10/2022 – 02:27

“Get out of the storm.” British Prime Minister Liz Truss, already weakened after just a month in office, tried to regain control on Wednesday (Oct 5) on the final day of a chaotic Conservative Party conference plagued by internal dissension over policy to get the UK out of the crisis.

“In these difficult times, we must act. I am determined to lead the UK forward to weather the storm,” said Liz Truss, in a speech lasting just over half an hour to members and campaigners of the party, in which she made no comment. ad.

Liz Truss defends her economic plan

Wanting to renew the Conservative government that has been in power for twelve years, the prime minister said she wanted to “end the cycle of low growth” and stressed her goal of “growing the British economy.” “The status quo is not an option,” she insisted.

Trying to silence those, even within her own ranks, who accuse her of being out of the game after barely a month in office, she reiterated her priorities: lower taxes, improve health and tackle illegal immigration.

Briefly interrupted by Greenpeace activists protesting the end of their government’s moratorium on fracking, Liz Truss also broadly reaffirmed the UK’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The Prime Minister also reiterated her “responsible” approach to budgeting, as her “mini-budget”, presented on 23 September to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, drew a host of criticism for her government-funded tax cuts. debt, and caused the pound to plummet.

The prime minister is under pressure from all sides

Under pressure from its own majority, the government on Monday abandoned its plan to scrap the top tax bracket, a move that had been the focus of opposition because it benefited wealthier taxpayers.

This turn of the finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, weakened the prime minister, who defended herself by saying that “there is no need to be ashamed that a leader listens.”

Will her speech to Congress be enough to reassert her authority, when Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday accused conservatives who openly criticized Liz Truss of launching a coup against her?

At stake is that former Transport Minister Grant Shapps, who supported ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak against Liz Truss in the Downing Street race, warned on Tuesday of the danger of a no-confidence vote by Tory MPs. .

“I don’t think that the conservative MEPs, if they see that the polls are going like this, will sit idly by,” he warned.

According to him, the government still has to address a series of issues that could fuel the rebellion, such as lifting the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or eliminating the top tax bracket for the richest, which Liz Truss refused to abandon definitively, after you have eliminated it from your “mini-budget”.

An opposition revitalized in the face of the controversy generated by Truss

But the revolt has to do above all with the future increase in social benefits, on which the new government does not consider itself bound by the commitment made by the previous prime minister, Boris Johnson, to increase them according to the rate of inflation.

The warning came from the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Relations, Penny Mordaunt, a former rival of Liz Truss in the race for Downing Street.

And several other voices were raised within the majority to remind Liz Truss not to stray too far from Boris Johnson’s agenda, which in December 2019 had given the Conservatives a triumph at the polls not seen since Margaret Thatcher (first minister from 1979 to 1990).

The next elections are held in less than two years and the Labor opposition, under the impetus of its leader Keir Starmer, more centrist than his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, emerged revitalized from its congress at the end of September, while 39% of the British he now believes the Conservatives lean far to the right, up 12 points in two months, according to a YouGov poll published on Tuesday.

Another poll recently gave Labor a 33-point lead over the Conservatives, a difference not seen since the late 1990s, when Tony Blair came to power (1997-2007).

This article was adapted from its French original.