Disgraced and short-lasting PM Liz Truss has accused Tory leader Kemi Badenoch of being dishonest about the “real failures of 14 years of Conservative government”.
In an article for The Telegraph, Truss warned the Conservative Party faces “serious trouble” if it does not start acknowledging the mistakes it made in government, particularly regarding human rights and the economy.
Her remarks followed comments by Kemi Badenoch, who argued that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were making “even bigger mistakes” than Truss and had failed to learn from the fallout of her mini-budget.
Responding, Truss says: “It is disappointing that instead of serious thinking like this, Kemi Badenoch is instead repeating spurious narratives.
“I suspect she is doing this to divert from the real failures of 14 years of Conservative government in which her supporters are particularly implicated.
“It was a fatal mistake not to repeal Labour legislation like the Human Rights Act because the modernisers wanted to be the ‘heirs to Blair’.
“Huge damage was done to our liberties through draconian lockdowns and enforcement championed by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.
“The economy was wrecked with profligate Covid spending by Sunak. The huge increase in immigration has been a disaster.”
It comes after Badenoch said: “For all their mocking of Liz Truss, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have not learnt the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes. They continue to borrow more and more, unable and unwilling to make the spending cuts needed to balance the books.”
Truss concluded: “Kemi Badenoch has said Labour need to learn the lessons of the mini-budget and are making even bigger mistakes. She is wrong.
“Labour is doing the opposite of the mini-budget, which is why the country is headed for disaster.
“The mini-budget was the right approach at the right time that would have resulted in higher growth, lower debt and cheaper energy… Contrary to what Kemi says, it’s not true that we had no plans to restrain spending. We wanted to link welfare increases to wages rather than prices, which would have saved £7bn in that year alone.”