Liz Truss lashes out as Tories set to apologise for her disastrous mini-budget

Liz Truss has lashed out at the Conservatives as the party prepares to formally apologise to the public for her disastrous so-called mini-budget.

The former prime minister said Tory shadow chancellor Mel Stride “kowtowed to the failed Treasury Orthodoxy” and had worked to undermine her as prime minister.

“My plan to turbocharge the economy and get Britain growing again provided the only pathway for the Conservatives to avoid a catastrophic defeat at the election,” Ms Truss claimed.

It comes ahead of a speech by Mr Stride, in which he will promise the Conservatives will “never again” make spending pledges the government cannot afford.

Attacking Ms Truss over her chaotic premiership, Mr Stride will say: “The credibility of the UK’s economic framework was undermined by spending billions on subsidising energy bills and tax cuts, with no proper plan for how this would be paid for.”

“For a few weeks, we put at risk the very stability which Conservatives had always said must be carefully protected,” Mr Stride is expected to add.

Ms Truss’s tenure in Downing Street lasted just 49 days after her disastrous mini-budget triggered market turmoil and saw the pound tank to a 37-year low against the dollar.

Ms Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century in the September 2022 statement, but were quickly forced to climb down over their plan to scrap the top rate of income tax for the highest earners.

She has since admitted her plan to cut the 45p top rate of tax may have gone too far, but insisted it was not fair to blame subsequent interest rate rises on her mini-budget.

As well as spooking markets with the tax cuts themselves, the former PM added to the uncertainty by shunning the usual forecasts from government spending watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), essentially leaving investors in government debt flying blind on the state of the public finances.

But, attacking Mr Stride for calling her legacy into question, Ms Truss said: “Mel Stride was one of the Conservative MPs who kowtowed to the failed Treasury Orthodoxy and was set on undermining my Plan for Growth from the moment I beat his chosen candidate for the party leadership.

“Even when judged by the OBR’s flawed calculations, my plans were chalked up as costing less than the spending spree Rishi Sunak pursued as Chancellor during the pandemic - yet Mel Stride never took him to task over any of that.”

The ex-PM called on Mr Stride to apologise instead on behalf of Rishi Sunak, whose government she said raised taxes to a 70-year high and pursued “unaffordable” net zero policies.

Turning his aim on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK after its gains in last month’s local elections, Mr Stried will say: “Take Reform. Their economic prescription is pure populism. It doubles down on the ‘magic money tree’ we thought had been banished with Jeremy Corbyn.”

But Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: “We'll take no lectures on economics from a party that more than doubled the national debt, raised taxes and government spending to 70 year highs and shrank economic growth to 70 year lows.

“Meanwhile we unearth Tory-run councils wasting £30 million on a bridge to nowhere. They can never be trusted again.”

The Liberal Democrats accused the Conservatives of attacking Mr Farage’s party for “the same fantasy economics” they had pursued “while secretly plotting a pact with them” as they branded the speech “absurd”.

Deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said: “It’s insulting that the Conservatives think a few warm words will fool people into forgiving them for all the damage they did to the economy and people’s livelihoods.

“Families are still reeling from the Conservatives’ lockdown law-breaking and still paying the price after their mini budget sent mortgages spiralling.

“Now the Conservatives have the cheek to criticise Reform UK for the same fantasy economics while secretly plotting a pact with them: it’s absurd.”