Ex British PM, Truss Says She Never Got Enough Chance To Implement Tax Cut Policies

Ex British Prime Minister, Liz Truss has said she was never given a “realistic chance” to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda by her party.

In a lengthy essay released over the weekend, Truss stood by her plans to boost economic growth, arguing they were brought down by “the left-wing economic establishment”.

The essay was Truss’ first public comments made on her resignation.

But she said she was not “blameless” for the unravelling of the mini-budget.

Ms Truss was forced to quit after she and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng £45bn package of unfunded tax cuts panicked the markets and tanked the pound to a record low.

Her brief time in power – 49 days – made her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.

Ms Truss said that while her experience last autumn was “bruising for me personally”, she believed that over the medium term her policies would have increased growth and therefore brought down debt.

She argued that the government was made a “scapegoat” for developments that had been brewing for some time.

“Frankly, we were also pushing water uphill. Large parts of the media and the wider public sphere had become unfamiliar with key arguments about tax and economic policy and over time sentiment had shifted leftward,” she wrote.

“Regrettably, the government became a useful scapegoat for problems that had been brewing over a number of months.”

She also said she had not appreciated the strength of the resistance she would face to her plans – including plans to abolish the 45p top rate of income tax.

“I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was. While I anticipated resistance to my programme from the system, I underestimated the extent of it,” she writes.

(BBC)