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Liz Truss has blamed the “powerful economic establishment” for her failure as prime minister and was hampered by a lack of support from her Conservative colleagues.
Mr Truss’ disastrous tenure in Downing Street ends 49 days after a £45bn underfunded tax cut package announced in former Prime Minister Kwasi Kwarten’s mini-budget pushed the UK into an economic meltdown. rice field.
In what is believed to be the beginning of her political comeback, Mr Truss daily telegraph She was never given a “real opportunity” by the party to implement her radical agenda.
The former prime minister also stressed that he was unaware of the strength of resistance that would face his plan.
She said she wasn’t “irresponsible” about how Prime Minister Kwarten’s mini-budget was dismantled, but she still believed her approach to boosting growth was the right one.
she said:
“When I entered Downing Street, I thought my mandate would be respected and accepted. I underestimated it.
“Similarly, I underestimated the resistance within the Conservative Party to moving to a lower tax, less regulated economy.”
She did not explicitly criticize her successor, Rishi Sunak, but suggested that the corporate tax be stopped from rising from 19% to 25%, branding the policy as “economically harmful”. pressed.
She said: “I strongly believe, and still believe, that rate hikes are counterproductive, hurt investment in the UK and people’s wages, all of which is taxable.”
Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, stressed that he wanted to be prime minister not to “manage decline or preside over a country in stagnation”, but to change things.
Southwest Norfolk MP also accused the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) of “binding” fiscal policy and said she disagreed with OBR’s assessment of the impact of her proposed tax cuts.
As a result of the small budget, she complained, the government was made a “scapegoat” for developments that had been brewing for some time.
“Only now can I understand the delicate Tinderbox we were dealing with regarding LDI,” she said.
“It quickly became a matter of market stability and we had to act to stabilize the situation. Meanwhile, political and media commentators delivered quick verdicts condemning the mini-budget.
“Unfortunately, the government has become a convenient scapegoat for problems that have been brewing for months.”
With the benefit of hindsight, she said she would have acted differently, but said she had to contend with “the visceral views of the Treasury” and the “broader orthodox economic ecosystem”. .
Her and Mr. Kwarteng’s growth plan combined tax cuts and deregulation to kick-start a stalling economy, but made a conscious decision to cut the “left-leaning” current of economic thought that some powerful forces have repelled. said to represent.
“Frankly, we were pushing the water uphill. Large sections of the media and the wider public sphere became unfamiliar with major debates about tax and economic policy, and sentiment left over time. “I shifted to ,” she said.
She said the uproar over her plan to abolish the 45p top income tax rate was particularly from within her own party, demonstrating the difficulties she faced.
“While this move was economically sound, I underestimated the political backlash I would face.
In a 4,000-word article, she said she was “extremely upset” at having to fire Mr. Kwarten, but believed she had no choice.
“At this point it was clear that the policy agenda was not viable and my priority was to avoid a serious meltdown in the UK,” she said.
“I still believe it was the right thing to do, trying to implement the original policy prescriptions that I fought in the leadership election, but the opposition to it was too great.”
While she regrets not being able to carry out her plan, she said she has learned a lot from her experience and will develop it further in the coming months.
“Since I left Downing Street, a number of people have written to me or approached me, believing that my diagnosis of the problems causing economic stagnation in our country is correct and that I have proposed She said she shared my enthusiasm for the solutions we were working on.
“While we are disappointed that the program could not be fully implemented, we are optimistic about the future as the UK is now able to forge its own path as a free nation.
“We believe that by being bold, entrepreneurial, and giving people and businesses the freedom they need to succeed, we can turn things around. There is hope for the future.”
As part of her comeback, Truss is expected to make a number of planned media appearances.
The former prime minister has remained relatively low profile since a disastrous sub-budget underfunded tax cut of £45 billion marked the beginning of her demise.