Aljazeera is reporting that Liz Truss, the British prime minister, has referred to herself as “a warrior and not a quitter” as she battles an aggressive opposition and the wrath of her own Conservative Party over her disastrous economic strategy. Wednesday marked Truss’ first appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions following the dismantling of the tax-cutting plan revealed by her new government less than a month prior by newly appointed chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
According to Aljazeera, during her brief time as the head of state of the United Kingdom, she expressed regret to the legislature and acknowledged making errors. As she spoke, some legislators yelled, “Resign!”
Keir Starmer, the head of the opposition Labour Party, questioned, “Why is she still here?” “I am a warrior and not a quitter,” Truss responded. In order to ensure that we have economic stability, I have acted in the national interest.
On September 23, the Truss government unveiled a package of unfunded tax cuts that rocked the financial markets, devalued the pound, and raised the cost of borrowing for the UK government. To stop the issue from extending to the larger economy and jeopardizing pensions, the Bank of England was compelled to act. Under strong political and economic pressure, Truss this week replaced cabinet veteran Hunt with her supporter Kwasi Kwarteng as finance minister. On Monday, Hunt repealed nearly all of Truss’ tax cuts as well as her signature energy plan and pledge to avoid cutting public spending. Before he lays out a plan, he said the government will need to make “very unpleasant decisions” and save billions of pounds.
Foreign secretary James Cleverly urged Conservatives to give Truss another chance, saying “mistakes happen”. Also on Wednesday, Truss told the parliament she was committed to increasing state pensions in line with the level of inflation, but she declined to give the same reassurance for welfare payments and foreign aid. Asked if Truss had ditched the policy, known as the triple lock because it increases publicly funded pensions by the highest of earnings, inflation or 2.5 percent, she told the House of Commons she remained fully committed to it.
photo credit: Aljazeera
