Criticism of Liz Truss is 'deeply wrong and unfair,' and 'deserves support' Foreign Sec claims
13 October 2022, 09:25 | Updated: 13 October 2022, 09:55
Criticism of Liz Truss is 'deeply wrong and unfair,' Foreign Secretary says
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said Liz Truss deserves support to push through her economic growth plan.
The comments come as Liz Truss was under fire from her own MPs as they demanded more U-turns on her tax-slashing agenda after she ruled out spending cuts to balance the books.
The Prime Minister's leadership was in renewed peril as she was accused of "trashing the last 10 years" of the Tories' record at a bruising meeting with backbenchers.
Read more: Abandon tax cuts now: Advisers turn on Truss after she pledges to not reduce public spending
Mr Cleverly told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC: "The criticism of the Prime Minister is deeply wrong, it's deeply unfair," adding Liz Truss was "doing exactly what she said she was going to do."
Nick shot back "I don't recall her saying she was going to tank the economy. I must have been out that day."
"It's a lovely soundbite, but our growth has been higher than predicted," the Foreign Secretary replied.
Mr Cleverly told Nick: "We have got a tough winter ahead, we completely get that. The Prime Minister has got a growth plan.
"She made it clear what she was going to do. I think we should give her the support, give the Chancellor the support, to deliver on the plan she has put in place.
"You can't be critical of our low growth rate and also critical of the interventions to stimulate growth. You have got to pick one or the other, and Liz has picked growth."
MPs piled pressure on the Prime Minister to restore market confidence in her Government, with reports suggesting she is facing mounting calls to reverse or delay her plan to cancel a rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25%, due in April.
Ms Truss has insisted this and other tax cuts will boost growth, but the so-far unfunded measures in Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget have sparked chaos in the financial markets.
'Why is your party as popular as toothache?'
Earlier, Mr Cleverly said the Government should stick with Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget.
After Liz Truss endured a difficult encounter with Tory MPs at the 1922 Committee on Wednesday, Mr Cleverly insisted they had to grow the economy.
He told Sky News: "Ultimately, what that mini-budget was about was protecting tens of millions of people from unaffordable energy prices. That was the bulk of that proposal.
"It was about making sure that taxes for 30 million people were reduced a little bit and those are really strong principles. I think we should absolutely stick with those.
"All those things are really key for the growth agenda the Prime Minister has put forward."
Damian Green, a former deputy prime minister, said Conservative MPs are openly discussing reversing some of the mini-budget measures, as they question how else she can reduce debt after she rejected public spending reductions.
"It is indeed a topic of conversation around the tea rooms of the House of Commons as well, because we can all do the rough maths and see that it's very difficult," he said.
"One of the obvious ways would be possibly to defer some of the tax cuts or the failure to put taxes up."
As MPs openly discussed the prospect of ousting the Prime Minister, an attempt to win over mutinous MPs at a meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday evening failed.
Addressing the group, Ms Truss said small businesses would have faced "devastation" if the Government had not acted to cap energy prices, according to aides.
But she was met with open criticism, with MPs reportedly raising concerns about soaring mortgage rates and the Tories' slump in the polls.
