Truss may be removed by Christmas as leadership in crisis

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Oct 2022 13:44
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The UK's failing economy is making Tories increasingly question Truss' leadership.

A sad Liz Truss. (PA)

It has not been a month since British Prime Minister Liz Truss assumed her role, and Tories are boiling over her government's tax-slashing bonanza which has been leaving British markets in crisis, in addition to sinking the Sterling to record lows. Negative opinion polls complement the depressing scene.

Arriving at her first Tory conference as PM - the 2022 Conservative Party Conference which will be held between 2 to 5 October - Truss faces criticisms that may lead to her removal by Christmas, according to The Independent. Almost two dozen Tory MPs have made clear they won't be attending the event.

Tory MPs are warning that Truss has only days to backtrack on the £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts in her "mini-budget" as part of the Growth Plan announced on September 23 by Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng. This plan led to a plunge in the British pound and negative ratings to the PM.

“She needs to reverse Kwarteng’s abolition of the 45p additional rate of income tax and she needs to stop talking about benefit cuts, because it’s electoral suicide. Her position is precarious. There was no justification for the measures they’ve announced, which went way beyond what she promised in the summer. There are no organized conspiracies I’ve heard of but mainstream opinion right across the party is angry, and unless something changes soon people will be having discussions when we get back to the Commons next week,” a former Tory minister told The Independent.

Another Tory MP said: “I think the 45p decision is untenable and I can’t see it getting through parliament. When the government is then talking about leaning into a squeeze on spending – and particularly welfare – it’s an extremely bad optic.”

Truss' move is Downing Street's biggest tax giveaway in 50 years, and it will give much leverage to Britain's wealthy, and it will be paid out of additional borrowing.

According to some British media outlets, so far, there are letters of no confidence being sent to the 1922 Committee already.

Liz Truss is “quite possibly the last ever Tory prime minister”, said former MP Philip Oppenheim. “Nothing in last week’s mini-Budget indicates that our new leaders have the slightest grasp of our long-term structural problems or the solutions, beyond a half-digested, two-dimensional version of Thatcherism."

The British pound has plummeted to its lowest rate against the US dollar since 1971. Last week, the sterling extended its losses to more than 4%, reaching $1.0327, before rising back to $1.05.