Liz Truss, the embattled UK prime minister, said, I do want to accept responsibility and express sorry for the mistakes that have been done.
Liz Truss, the embattled UK prime minister, apologised on Monday for pushing changes too far, too fast, and causing economic chaos, but she pledged to stay in office despite a string of embarrassing backpedals.
We went too far and too quickly, she said, adding, I do want to accept responsibility and express sorry for the mistakes that have been committed.
She acknowledged that there were concerns about who was now in charge of determining government policy, but insisted that she was dedicated to delivering for this country.
To prevent new market upheaval, her government repealed nearly all of the debt-fueled tax cuts it had announced last month.
Truss’s position is in jeopardy following the shocking appointment of new finance chief Jeremy Hunt on Friday to replace the fired Kwasi Kwarteng. Conservative MP Roger Gale claimed that Hunt was the de facto prime minister.
After analysts predicted the government faced a £60 billion black hole, Hunt projected the tax adjustments would raise approximately £32 billion ($36 billion) a year. He also foresaw drastic spending cuts.
No government, according to the chancellor of the exchequer, could control the market, but he insisted that his actions would provide stability for the public finances and promote growth.
With a grim-faced Truss by his side, Hunt declared to parliament that the prime minister and I agreed yesterday to revoke practically all the tax changes outlined in the growth plan three weeks ago.
In addition, the chancellor announced the creation of an economic advisory board composed of four outside specialists.
Hours earlier, he had admitted that his predecessor’s budget from last month had hurt the public coffers in a quick televised presentation in which he announced the sudden reversals to uneasy markets.
Truss stated to the BBC that she still supported a high-growth, low-tax economy, but that as prime minister, maintaining economic stability was her responsibility.
Hunt abandoned plans to eliminate the lowest income tax rate and scaled back the government’s signature energy price freeze, turning it off in April rather than late 2024.
He stated that the agency would evaluate its energy support program after April.
Along with planned tax-free shopping for tourists and a freeze on alcohol duty, a cut in shareholder dividend tax was also scrapped.
The announcement comes as Britain’s cost of the living problem continues to deteriorate and Truss’s ruling Conservative party is losing ground in the polls.
After their recent tax-cutting budget saw bond yields soaring and the pound plummeting to a record dollar low on worries about rocketing UK debt, Truss fired her close friend Kwarteng on Friday, igniting intense speculation over her political future one month after assuming office.
According to Laura Suter, head of personal finance at stockbroker AJ Bell, the sound you can hear is the death knell for Trussonomics, with the great majority of her tax-cutting initiatives now committed to the rubbish.
Hunt will provide his medium-term financial strategy and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s independent economic estimates in two weeks.
However, the dominant opposition Labour party, which is now polling well, claimed that the Tories in power were to blame for the chaos and catastrophe.
