“The last thing we need is a general election,” Liz Truss said dismissively to rebuff a question on how to reverse Britain’s sudden economic decline.
That might soon become the last option left to her flailing government. She attempted to deflect the sense of growing doom palpable during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
The inescapable fact, as articulated by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, was that Ms Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had unleashed a tornado in their tax-cutting “kamikaze budget” whose fall-out is still whirling uncontrollably.
That uncertainty had clearly gripped the Tory benches whose MPs looked on grimly as their new leader attempted to deflect the gathering storm.
Time, it felt for Ms Truss and her fledgling administration, was running out and the options are narrowing.
She adamantly ruled out any government funding cuts with an “absolutely” to Sir Keir’s demand to bring control to spending. But she may well be forced to reverse her tax-cuts to avoid catastrophe, reneging on the promise that cemented her summer leadership election campaign following Boris Johnson’s resignation.
Tory MPs may well give the government until October 31 for the Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s fiscal announcement on how he intends to balance the books to fund the cuts. Some estimates put the ledger £60 billion in the red on his unfunded tax policy.
If he fails to show strong fiscal management then one scenario could be a vote of no confidence in the government, and despite its current 69 seat majority, MPs might see a general election as the only solution to avoid national financial collapse.
Those dark thoughts appeared to be contemplated on the Tory benches as their new leader fought grimly against the facts arrayed before her.
Within a year, up to two million homeowners will face mortgage payments that will have increased by an average of £500 a month, Sir Keir stated.
“Will the public ever forgive the Conservative Party if they go ahead with this kamikaze budget,” he asked. “They won’t forgive and they won’t forget and nor should they. Reverse this kamikaze budget that has caused so much pain.”
The economy was “in turmoil” and people were “genuinely worried”. Few on the Tory benches bothered to raise a voice in contradiction.
Instead, the prime minister variously accused Labour of accepting the budget by not voting against reversing the National Insurance rise or agreeing to the energy price cap.
-
Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, addressing Parliament for the first time since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies. Here, 'The National' looks at her time in power so far. AFP -
Liz Truss speaks to Grant Shapps at Downing Street as he is appointed Home Secretary, after the resignation of Suella Braverman. Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street -
A mural by artist Ciaran Gallagher in Belfast is updated to reflect Liz Truss's current political troubles. PA -
Britain's new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announcing tax and spending measures at the House of Commons in London, with Liz Truss sitting on the bench behind him. AFP -
Liz Truss gives a speech after sacking Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer. Reuters -
A protest by climate change group Extinction Rebellion in central London. Ms Truss has said the group is part of an 'anti-growth coalition' with trade unions and the main opposition Labour Party. AFP -
Ms Truss has come under increasing pressure during her short time as prime minister. AFP -
An Extinction Rebellion protest outside Downing Street on the day Mr Kwarteng was removed from the government. AP -
Ms Truss with members of the England women's football team and the European Championship trophy in Teddington, south-west London. Getty -
Ms Truss arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community at Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. AP -
Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary wave after her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. AP -
Liz Truss gives a speech at the Conservative Party Conference. EPA -
Ms Truss meets with Mr Kwarteng, chancellor of the exchequer at the time. Photo: Andrew Parsons / CCHQ -
Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham. AFP -
Ms Truss meets US President Joe Biden for talks at the UN headquarters in New York. PA -
Ms Truss delivers a speech at the 77th session of the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. AP -
The British prime minister holds a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. Reuters -
Ms Truss meets French President Emmanuel Macron at the UN headquarters in New York. Reuters -
Ms Truss speaks to the media during her visit to the Empire State building in New York. AP -
Britain's new leader speaks during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, London. PA -
Ms Truss and her husband Hugh O'Leary observe a minute's silence at Number 10 Downing Street following the death of the queen. Reuters -
Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Truss leave after a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster. AFP -
Ms Truss joins the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and selected MPs to take the oath and swear allegiance to King Charles III in the House of Commons chamber. PA -
King Charles during his first audience with Ms Truss at Buckingham Palace, London, following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Getty Images -
Ms Truss gives a reading during a service of prayer and reflection, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth, at St Paul's Cathedral in London. Getty Images -
The British prime minister makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street in London following the queen's death. Bloomberg -
Ms Truss speaking during her first weekly Prime Minister's Questions session at the House of Commons in London. AFP -
Front pages of a selection of British national newspapers, each leading with a story about Ms Truss becoming Britain's new prime minister. AFP -
People walk past an image in central London of Ms Truss on the side of a protest bus calling for a citizens' assembly. Reuters -
Ms Truss holds her first Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. Reuters -
Ms Truss speaks at Downing Street on the day she took over as prime minister from Boris Johnson. EPA -
Ms Truss poses with her husband Hugh O'Leary at Downing Street before entering as prime minister for the first time. EPA -
Ms Truss is welcomed by staff in Downing Street as she enters the famous prime ministerial offices for the first time. Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street -
New Health Secretary Therese Coffey and Number 10 staff shelter from a downpour as they wait for Ms Truss to arrive in Downing Street. PA -
Liz Truss makes a speech outside 10 Downing Street, London, after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister and form a new government. PA -
Queen Elizabeth II greets the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, Ms Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The queen invited Ms Truss to become prime minister and form a new government. Getty Images
It was a weak argument and everyone in the chamber knew it. Ms Truss had voted for the National Insurance rise in Boris Johnson’s government and the energy cap had originally been a Labour proposal, Sir Keir not-so-gently reminded her.
He then added: “During the leadership contest the PM said ‘I’m very clear. I’m not planning public spending reductions’. Are you going to stick to that?”
“Absolutely. Absolutely,” Ms Truss replied with a firm voice, before she was met with a wall of jeers and laughter form the opposition benches. She knows that her government will have to find the money from somewhere.
A veteran Labour MP finished the 45 minutes of questions with one that must have been growing in many minds. After a very short honeymoon period – Ms Truss took power five weeks ago – the “country had been left wanting a divorce”, he said, suggesting she acceded to public demands for an election.
Ms Truss responded that a general election was the last thing the country needed but the pain did not end for the Tories as she left the chamber.
Droves of Tories followed her, leaving behind a brave rear-guard of two score MPs, while the entire Labour benches remained seated.
An Urgent Question had been granted to the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves asking her opponent to make a statement on the current economic crisis.
“Where is he?” a Labour voice heckled as Mr Kwarteng’s deputy Chris Philp stood to explain the Treasury’s position.
The chancellor, he replied without a trace of irony, was “in Washington having meetings with the IMF”. He quickly realised his error. In Britain the International Monetary Fund is political anathema after its 1976 bail-out was the final humiliation after years of financial mismanagement.
Ms Reeves then accused the Treasury of being economic “pyromaniacs” whose policies had started an inferno “and that fire has now spread”.
Mr Philp did not steady the nerves of the 40-odd Tory stalwarts behind him with his staccato answers.
It was left to Mel Stride, the moderate Conservative who chairs the treasury committee, to introduce some reality.
“Given the huge challenges, many, myself included, believe it is quite possible [the Chancellor] will simply have to come forward with a further rowing back of on the tax announcements he made,” he said
But Mr Philp insisted “there are not any plans to reverse any of the tax measures in the growth plan”.
Signalling perhaps that cuts or reversals might indeed be made in Mr Kwarteng’s Hallowe’en budget update, the Prime Minister’s spokesman later told the media that “difficult decisions lie ahead”.
Ms Truss and her colleagues must realise now that something has to give if she is to remain in power.
