By Tony O’Reilly-
A defiant Liz Truss has defended her controversial tax-cutting agenda insisting the Government must be “bold” if it is to deliver the economic growth the country needs.
As she left Downing Street for the final time, the outgoing prime minister offered no apology for her turbulent 49-day term in office which saw her become Britain’s shortest-serving premier.
Watched by Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey and a small group of loyal aides, she said she had acted “urgently and decisively” to support families and businesses – including overturning a hike in national insurance introduced by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor.
The mini-Budget from her first chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who was eventually sacked, spooked markets about current levels of government borrowing.
Truss said her time as Prime Minister, which was the shortest tenure ever, made her “more convinced than ever” that the UK needs to “be bold and confront the challenges we face”., Truss said that leaders must be “bold” as she spoke of cutting taxes before handing over the keys to no.10.
Speaking from Downing Street before heading to Buckingham Palace to resign, Ms Truss celebrated reversing the national insurance increase imposed by Rishi Sunak when chancellor.
“From my time as Prime Minister I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face,” she said.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country. We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.”
“We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently,” she said.
“This means delivering more freedom for our own citizens and restoring power to democratic institutions. It means lower taxes so people can keep more of the money that they earn.”
She also quoted Roman writer Seneca, saying: “She did not offer any sort of apology for the chaos of her six-week premiership.”
Truss lost the confidence of Tory MPs last week, after she was forced to shred almost all of her tax cuts promised in the Tory leadership contest.
In a brief, three-minute address, she made no reference to the turmoil which followed Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous £45 billion mini-budget tax giveaway which ultimately cost her premiership.
We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth
Instead, quoting the Roman philosopher Seneca – “It’s not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it’s because we do not dare that they are difficult” – she argued that reducing taxes remained the key to economic growth.
“From my time as Prime Minister, I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face,” she said.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country. We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.
“It means lower taxes so people can keep more of what they earn and it means delivering growth that will lead to more job security, higher wages and greater opportunities for our children and grandchildren.”
Before heading to Buckingham Palace with her husband Hugh O’Leary and their daughters, Frances and Liberty, to tender her resignation, Mr Truss wished her successor “every success for the good of our country”.
“We continue to battle through a storm but I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people, and I know that brighter days lie ahead,” she said.
She said that she would continue to sit as a backbencher as MP for Norfolk SouthWest.