Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

British PM Truss vows to carry on as her party support dwindles

British PM Truss vows to carry on as her party support dwindles

British Prime Minister Liz Truss warned of tough times ahead after she scrapped her vast tax-cutting plan and said she would carry on to try to put the economy on a stronger footing, defying calls for her resignation.

After weeks of blaming "global headwinds" for investors dumping the pound and government bonds, Truss on Monday said she was sorry for going "too far and too fast" with her radical economic plan to snap Britain out of years of tepid growth.

It was not clear whether the apology would quell a growing rebellion in her Conservative Party, with a handful of lawmakers urging Truss to quit just six weeks after she became prime minister.

Truss has said she will fight on and told her top ministers she wanted to level with the public that there were tough times ahead.

A new YouGov opinion poll showed that even among Conservative Party members who backed her for prime minister, more than half of those polled said she should resign. A third wanted her predecessor, Boris Johnson, to return.

Markets, which plunged after Truss's Sept. 23 "mini-budget", are still under strain even after her finance minister Jeremy Hunt tore up her plans on Monday.

"I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made," Truss told the BBC late on Monday.

"I wanted to act to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast." Truss said she was "sticking around" and that she would lead the Conservatives into the next election due in about two years time, although the statement was accompanied by a laugh.

Earlier on Monday, Truss watched silently in parliament as Hunt ripped up the plan she proposed less than a month ago, and which triggered a bond market rout so deep that the Bank of England had to act to prevent pension funds from collapsing.

'HONEST'


For some in the party, the sight of a prime minister humbled in parliament provided little confidence she could fight on.

James Heappey, a minister for the armed forces, said Truss, his boss, could not afford to make any more mistakes.

Truss spoke to her Brexit-supporting lawmakers on Tuesday, promising to resolve the contentious rules that govern trade with Northern Ireland and said she was still a low-tax conservative who would pursue such goals more slowly. One of those present said she was received warmly in contrast to more hostile receptions from other wings of the party.

Members of parliament have been urged by government to hold off from any move to oust her before it presents its medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31.

Truss was elected by Conservative party members, not the broader electorate, on a promise to slash taxes and regulation to fire up the economy in a policy dubbed by critics as a return to 1980s Thatcherite-style "trickle-down" economics.

But markets reacted so dramatically that borrowing costs surged, lenders pulled mortgage offers and pension funds fell into a tailspin.

Ryanair (RYA.I) boss Michael O'Leary described Britain's economic situation as a "car crash" which he blamed on the country's decision to vote to leave the European Union in 2016.

SPENDING SQUEEZE


With Britain's economic reputation shattered, Hunt may now have to go further in finding public spending cuts than the government would have done had Truss not unleashed her economic plan at a time of surging inflation.

Truss's spokesperson said the government could not yet make commitments in individual policy areas, despite previous pledges, but it was focused on protecting the most vulnerable. He said Truss stood by her pledge to increase defence spending by 2030.

Torsten Bell, the head of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank, said the government may need to cut public spending by around 30 billion pounds ($34 billion) - a politically very difficult task after successive Conservative governments cut departmental budgets over the last 10 years.

One area of spending already to go is Truss's vast two-year energy support package that was expected to cost well over 100 billion pounds, which Hunt said would now last until April before it is reviewed.

($1 = 0.8807 pounds)

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×