After a stressful week of strategizing by Conservative opponents, British Prime Minister Liz Truss maintained on her commitment to “sound” economics as she prepared for Sunday’s crisis discussions with her all-powerful new finance minister.
Truss said that it had been difficult to remove her buddy Kwasi Kwarteng from his position as chancellor of the exchequer since even US President Joe Biden had joined in criticism of her economic policies.
But writing in the Sun on Sunday newspaper, she said: “We cannot pave the way to a low-tax, high-growth economy without maintaining the confidence of the markets in our commitment to sound money.”
That confidence was jeopardized on September 23 when Kwarteng and Truss unveiled a right-wing program, inspired by 1980s US president Ronald Reagan, of o45 billion ($50 billion) in tax cuts financed exclusively by higher debt.
Markets tanked in response, driving up borrowing costs for millions of Britons, and the Conservatives poll ratings have similarly slumped, leading to open warfare in the governing party mere weeks after Truss succeeded Boris Johnson.
Despite being a co-author of the package, she abruptly fired Kwarteng on Friday. replacing him As Britons experience a cost-of-living crisis, Jeremy Hunt is currently rolling back the tax cuts while urging his cabinet colleagues to practice rigorous budget restraint.
On Sunday, the new chancellor met with Truss at the prime minister’s rural hideaway to work up a fresh budget proposal that he will present on October 31.
