We’re running out of ways to describe the sheer ineptitude of those at the very top. However, the folie á deux going on between Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has taken Britain to the brink this week.
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‘It was his decision’ – Truss shifts blame for tax policies onto Kwarteng
A horrendous set of economic policies laid out by the pair last week ended up crashing the markets, as The Pound went into freefall and pension funds were put on the chopping block. Only a £65 billion package from the Bank of England eased the crisis.
The recent mini-budget is certainly not a document you’d want your name on – which largely explains why Liz Truss is ready to throw Kwasi Kwarteng under the bus. The PM told Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday that ‘tax cuts for the rich’ was a decision made by the Chancellor.
What’s more, Truss also revealed that Cabinet was not consulted about abolishing the 45p rate for the UK’s top earners.
“No, we didn’t discuss scrapping the top rate of tax with the whole Cabinet. That was a decision that the Chancellor made. But we have committed to make our tax system more competitive, by simplifying things.” | Liz Truss, Sunday 2 October
Cabinet ‘not informed’ about controversial tax plans
The Prime Minister’s appearance on the BBC’s new flagship politics show was predictably uninspiring. Truss delivered a largely robotic performance, parroting lines that were trotted out during her disastrous tour of BBC local radio stations last week.
She refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, and also remained coy on further economic interventions. Now entering her fourth week as the British Premier, Truss has seen her popularity wane from an already-low base.
- And, with answers like these, it’s perhaps easy to understand why the public is already fed-up of ‘Trussonomics’.