Liz Truss insists UK Government has ‘The Right Plan’ for the economy
Liz Truss has defended the government’s so-called mini-budget as ‘urgent action’ in difficult times.
The Prime Minister has been doing a series of BBC regional radio interviews this morning, her first media appearance following the mini-budget.
Since Friday’s statement by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng the pound has dropped to a record low, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised the Government’s strategy and called for policies to be re-evaluated.
The pound had already been weakening for over a year partly because the US dollar has been getting stronger.
Truss government’s economic and fiscal policies have made the market even more uneasy.
They are based on a combination of energy subsidies and huge tax giveaways – particularly to high-income households and homeowners – which will increase annual borrowing by more than £100 billion.
The Bank of England has had to spend £65 billion of UK bonds to prop up the markets because of what they describe as a ‘material risk.’
Several lenders have withdrawn all or some of their mortgage rates as the pound slumped to a new low on Monday.
This has continued into Tuesday night, said Moneyfacts, who monitor the market.
It said the residential mortgage market losing 935 products in availability.
This is the highest daily fall in mortgage products registered on Moneyfacts records.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds this morning, Liz Truss said: “I think we’ve got to remember the situation we were facing this winter.”
“We were facing a situation where people could have had to pay energy bills of up to £6000, where inflation was increasing and where we were looking at an economic slowdown, which would have had a huge impact right across the country.
That’s why we took action to make sure people aren’t paying a typical fuel bill of more than £2500 pounds.
Truss said: “We had to take decisive action to help people through this winter and next winter.”
“I understand that families are struggling with fuel bills.”
“We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing, get Britain moving, and also deal with inflation.”
And of course, that means taking controversial and difficult decisions.”
“But I’m prepared to do that as Prime Minister because what’s important to me is that we get our economy moving.”
“We want make sure that people are able to get through this winter, and we are prepared to do what it takes to make that happen.”
#PrimeMinister #LizTruss has spoken for the first time since the announcement of the mini budget. 💼@TheRimaAhmed quizzed her on the #RadioLeeds breakfast show… 🎙
📲 Listen here ➡️ https://t.co/FxcIST2Jg2
— BBC Radio Leeds (@BBCLeeds) September 29, 2022
Following Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget on Friday the Welsh government said:
“The UK Government has published a Fiscal Statement against a backdrop of rising prices, energy costs and wage pressures that are severely impacting households, businesses and public services across the country.”
“The measures announced in the Chancellor’s Statement today are deeply unfair and fail to target meaningful support for the most vulnerable households. Wales Fiscal Analysis has noted that, in Wales, nearly 90% of the gains will go to households in the top 50% of the income distribution, with 40% going to households in the top 10%.”
“We have had no prior engagement from the UK Government on any of these changes, including to areas of taxation which are devolved in Wales. We will need to work through the implications of these.”
“At a time where the UK is on a brink of a recession, the new UK government should have focused on opportunities to invest in people and programmes that provide economic stability. Instead, with the pound declining against the US dollar to levels not seen in nearly 40 years, there is very little confidence in this new government’s management of the economy.”
