First modification: 10/16/2022 – 14:34
London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Liz Truss, in a crisis meeting with her finance minister, on Sunday insisted on her attachment to a “solid” economy, after a tense week under the onslaught of her own party threatening its continuity. in charge.
Under a wave of criticism that included US President Joe Biden, Truss admitted it was painful to fire Kwasi Kwarteng as finance minister.
But this Sunday he wrote in the Sun on Sunday newspaper: “We cannot pave the way for a low-tax, high-growth economy without maintaining the market’s confidence in the strength of our currency.”
The erosion of confidence began on September 23 when Kwarteng and Truss unveiled their ultraliberal program, inspired by the policies of US President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, to implement a £ 45 billion ($ 50 billion) cut. ) to taxes financed solely by an increase in debt.
Markets plummeted, causing lending rates to rise by millions and the Conservative Party sinking in the polls.
An internal war has begun, a few weeks after Truss succeeded Boris Johnson.
In an effort to stay in the job, he fired his new finance minister and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt.
Truss met with his new finance minister on Sunday to outline a new agenda ahead of the budget presentation on 31 October.
“It’s going to be very, very difficult and we’re going to have to be honest with people about it,” Hunt said in an interview with the BBC on Sunday.
© 2022 AFP
