An unrepentant Liz Truss has sought to blame a left-wing infiltration of thinktanks, the Bank of England and other “institutions” for the market turmoil during her brief premiership.
Ms Truss was speaking at an Institute for Government event about what she believes are the issues with the UK economy.
Her 49 days as prime minister – the shortest ever – ended after attempts to reform the economy culminated with the Bank of England having to prevent pension markets from collapsing as markets expected interest rates to soar on borrowing to pay for tax cuts.
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Ms Truss did admit that she tried to go too far, too fast. She said: “It was certainly true that I didn’t just try to fatten the pig on market day but tried to rear the pig, fatten the pig and slaughter it on market day.”
But she did not apologise – despite being asked several times about her time in Downing Street – and pointed out that interest rates and guilt yields are now higher than when she was in office.
Sky’s economics and data editor, Ed Conway, explained that the “ham-fisted” way in which Ms Truss tried to change policy led to her losing the confidence of the markets, which set off “mines” and shook confidence in the UK’s economy.
At the end of her speech, Ms Truss revealed she would be heading to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, where she would be “saying more”.
This conference is Rishi Sunak’s first as leader.