Liz Truss blames 'left-wing economic establishment' for No10 exit, despite plunging UK economy into chaos

4 February 2023, 23:25 | Updated: 5 February 2023, 15:43

Liz Truss has claimed she was never given a “realistic chance” to enact her radical tax-slashing agenda by a "very powerful economic establishment", combined with a lack of support from her party.

Writing in the Telegraph in her first detailed comments after being forced out of Downing Street in October, the ex-PM said she hadn't appreciated the strength of the resistance her plans would face.

Though she acknowledged that she was not “blameless” over the catastrophic effects of the mini-budget on the UK economy, she said she still believed her commitment to growth was the right one.

She said: “I am not claiming to be blameless in what happened, but fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support.

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“I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was.

"While I anticipated resistance to my programme from the system, I underestimated the extent of it.

“Similarly, I underestimated the resistance inside the Conservative parliamentary party to move to a lower-tax, less-regulated economy.”

Within her first week in the role, Ms Truss announced her energy support package to deal with the cost of living crisis.

But her pledges for quick action were quickly put on hold when Queen Elizabeth died, marking the beginning of 10 days of national mourning.

The end of September was the pivotal moment for Ms Truss' premiership when previous Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced billions of pounds worth of tax cuts in a mini-budget.

The move led to the pound plummeting and the markets faced financial turmoil as the government then fought to fix the chaos.

Tory infighting piled pressure on the leader for her last few weeks at No10, with her being forced to u-turn on several of her policies as well as replacing her Chancellor with Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Suella Braverman also stepping down.