British Prime Minister Liz Truss apologizes for mini-budget ‘mistakes’

CNN
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British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday apologized for her controversial mini-budget that plunged the country’s currency, rocked financial markets, and led it to do so. dismissal of its finance minister and closest political ally.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Truss insisted she would lead her Conservative Party into the next general election, despite her government having come under massive pressure from investors and party members since the mini-budget was unveiled in late September.

The plan – which proposed unfunded tax cuts, massive government borrowing and an unexpected tax exemption for energy companies – sent the pound to its lowest level against the dollar in decades.

“I want to take responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that were made. I wanted to work to help people with their energy bills deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too quickly,” Truss told BBC reporter Chris Mason.

“I appointed a new minister with a new strategy to restore economic stability.”

Last Friday, Truss replaced Treasury Secretary Kwasi Quarting with Jeremy Hunt, a former multi-memorandum cabinet minister who has twice stood at the helm.

Hunt has flipped since then many of her most significant undertakings in her leadership campaign. After just four days on the job, he said he would cancel “all” of the tax measures his predecessor announced three weeks ago. He said the astonishing reversal would raise 32 billion pounds ($36 billion).

The proposed reduction in the basic rate of income tax from April 2023 has been deferred “indefinitely”. While the government has said it will still guarantee energy prices to households and businesses through this winter, it will not stick to the price ceiling beyond next spring.

“No government can control the markets, but every government can give certainty about fiscal sustainability,” Hunt said. “The UK will always pay for it.”

Markets have stabilized somewhat in recent weeks, although only after a major intervention from the Bank of England rumors circulated that the mini-budget would be abandoned and reports – which proved to be true – that Kwarteng would be fired.

These moves amount to undermining Truss’ master “growth plan” and leave her in a precarious political position.

The opposition Labor Party said Hunt’s statement highlighted how the government has made life more difficult for ordinary people, as mortgage rates and other borrowing costs have risen in recent weeks.

But we have to make sure that we have economic stability, and that should be my priority as prime minister. I acted in the national interest. Truss told the BBC, after being asked if her vision of Britain was “dead”.

Truss said she still believed in the “high growth, low tax” formula she campaigned for the Conservative leadership in early September – but said she recognized that the UK was facing “extremely challenging circumstances at the moment”.

When asked if a “prime minister in name only” after appointing a finance minister is “implementing a plan a million miles away from yours,” Truss replied, “I knew we had to work to protect economic stability, which is why I hired Jeremy Hunt.”

“I’ve been working closely with the chancellor over the past few days to make sure we have the right package in place, but it has been completely irresponsible for me not to act in the national interest the way I do,” she said.

Truss added that it was “painful” to dismiss her “friend” Quarting as finance minister, but said she stood by her decision. She also apologized to lawmakers in her party for her “mistakes” but said she would “move forward” and focus on providing services to the UK.

Constitutionally, it is not necessary to hold the next general election until January 2025. There is no guarantee that Truss will survive that longalthough removing the fourth Conservative leader in just over six years will be difficult in the short term because of party rules that protect her from a leadership challenge in her first year as prime minister.