UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned on October 19. A move that adds to the political turmoil surrounding Prime Minister Liz Truss. Cornered by criticism from her party, Truss confirmed that she will not resign, as the ‘Tories’ demand. Just a month and a half after becoming the leader of the Government, the premiere He is on the ropes for the rejection of his controversial economic plan to stabilize the nation’s finances.
Suella Braverman, the former head of the Interior portfolio, was dismissed this Wednesday after she leaked information about the migration policy of the Liz Truss Executive from her private phone and was caught by an error in sending an email.
After this episode, the British press reported that Grant Shapps, the former Transport Secretary who strongly supported Rishi Sunak in the race for the Conservative leadership, would replace the official.
Braverman’s departure would mark the second major exit among the cabinet team in less than a week, after the premier was forced to sack finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday, October 14.
The chaotic day did not end there: the Labor party, which according to the polls would sweep in voting intention if the elections were held today, proposed this Friday a vote in Parliament against the fracking, a subject with which the conservatives were against in their electoral program.
This question caused another shake in the rows ‘tories’. In a parliamentary day full of tension, where there were pushes, shouts and verbal attacks, some deputies forced others to vote while others wrote letters to request the dismissal of the prime minister and she herself fled from the session.
“I am a fighter”: Liz Truss insists that she will not resign after her failed economic plan
Liz Truss faces an uphill battle to continue as UK Prime Minister.
“I am a fighter” and not “a deserter”, insisted the political leader this Wednesday, October 19, before the House of Commons, in the midst of the ruling Conservative Party’s demand for her to resign.
Just a month and a half after taking office, Truss is facing hostile and furious opposition from his own political movement over the failed economic plan he presented to balance the nation’s finances, following the Brexit hits, high costs of energy amid the Russian war in Ukraine and significant inflation. Enormous challenges with which he assumed the leadership of the Government at the beginning of last September.
This Wednesday, in his weekly appearance to control the Administration, the premier apologized to Parliament for the already canceled tax proposal and admitted that he had made “mistakes” in his short time in office, but promised to change course.
“I have assumed responsibility and made the right decisions, in the interest of the economic stability of the country,” said the leader of the ‘Tories’.
But in the middle of her speech, Truss endured the wrath of several lawmakers who yelled “resign!” at her. An indicator of the difficult task that the prime minister faces to regain the support of the same party that a few weeks ago chose her as the successor to Boris Johnson.
Why did the tax plan spark anger against Truss?
On September 23, the prime minister proposed a package of tax cuts, which in her opinion would help promote economic growth.
The measures included tax cuts of 45,000 million pounds sterling and lowering the income tax for large fortunes from 45% to 40%.
But his plan triggered market turmoil, hit the value of the pound sterling and increased the cost of British government borrowing. The case was such that the Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the economy in general and putting pension funds at risk.
Within days, Truss was forced to withdraw the offer to lower the aforementioned levies. And last October 14, under intense political and economic pressure, she fired her finance minister and ally on her proposal, Kwasi Kwarteng.
The situation has generated further questions against Truss, after his new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, completely dismantled the controversial plan to stabilize the markets.
Hunt scrapped nearly all of Truss’s tax cuts, along with his signature energy policy, an initiative aimed at limiting rising energy bills and promoting other sources.
The new head of the portfolio also excluded the premier’s promise not to cut public spending. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and “many tough decisions” need to be made before it sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on October 31.
Official figures published this October 19 showed that UK inflation rose to 10.1% in September, returning to the 40-year high that was marked last July, at a time when there is a vertiginous increase in the cost of food that compresses family budgets.
While inflation is rising around the world, fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effects on energy supplies, polls show most Britons blame the government for economic damage to their nation.
Opponents also accuse the Conservative government of sowing chaos by contradicting itself in its policies.
On Wednesday, Truss assured retirees that pensions would continue to rise in line with the level of inflation. He did so less than 24 hours after his spokeswoman said the administration was considering scrapping the costly pledge in a bid to cut government spending.
Conservative parliamentarian affirms that the ‘tories’ are shuffling names for a possible successor to Truss
Conservative MP Steve Double told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that the prime minister has until the end of next week to persuade Conservative lawmakers that she deserves to stay in office.
The majority of Conservative MPs “probably already have their preference” for a successor, Double said, saying hours earlier that Truss’s position is “increasingly untenable.”
A more realistic deadline might be next Monday, October 31, the deadline set for submitting the medium-term fiscal plan, the next version of a mini-budget, and the release of the Office of Budget Responsibility’s economic forecast.
The government hopes that the new provisions will reassure the markets and some experts indicate that if they do, the fight for an impeachment of Truss would be weakened.
With Reuters and local media
