British Prime Minister Liz Truss yesterday promised “fiscal rigor”, after the setback received by her debt-financed tax cut plan, and avoided specifying if she plans to limit social subsidies to the poorest in order to balance public finances. .
Truss said she was “very committed to supporting the most vulnerable”, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 during the annual congress of the Conservative Party in Birmingham (central England). However, she did not rule out, with the aim of reducing net debt, preventing social benefits from rising next April in line with inflation, which is around 10% in the UK, as previously promised. The press published yesterday that it is proposed to increase them instead based on the increase in average wages, a much lower percentage.
Many Conservative MPs, who risk losing their seats in the upcoming elections, have warned that they will not vote in Parliament for a cut in real terms of the income of the lowest incomes, when at the same time there will be tax incentives for companies and the financial sector. “We are going to have to make decisions on how to reduce net debt relative to gross domestic product (GDP) in the medium term,” the Tory leader said in the interview.
“We have to see these issues together, we have to be fiscally responsible,” he declared, after his tax cut plan presented on September 23 caused chaos in financial markets.
The Minister of Economy, Kwasi Kwarteng, annulled on Monday the planned reduction from 45 to 40% of the highest band of income tax, amid criticism from the conservative deputies themselves that it was proposed at a time of crisis due to the increase in the cost of living
It was later leaked that Kwarteng plans to bring forward the presentation of its full economic plan to this month to reassure investors, instead of the scheduled date of November 23.
play credibility
How can the British Conservative Government regain the confidence of the markets and the electorate was the question that many asked themselves yesterday at the annual congress of the formation in Birmingham, without anyone daring to give the answer.
Supporters of British Prime Minister Liz Truss called for her time to develop her growth plan, after the setback received by her debt-financed fiscal strategy, but many others feared that her reputation was already irreversibly damaged after the turn to politics. economic.
In statements to Efe, several ministers, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Kemi Badenoch, closed ranks around their economic expansion project through incentives for companies and high incomes, regardless of its impact on interest rates and the premium sovereign debt risk.
Other prominent conservatives, such as Penny Mordaunt and Michael Gove, criticized the possibility that the head of government limits social subsidies to the most disadvantaged as a mechanism to reduce accumulated debt.
Chosen by the Conservative base in the primary elections to replace Boris Johnson, Truss has little support within the parliamentary group in the House of Commons, which makes her vulnerable to internal rebellions. – Eph
props
Ministers endorse the ‘tory’ leader
Economic. Business Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the prime minister’s loyalists at the moment, said markets shouldn’t be overheard. “Financial markets react daily on different issues, they are not the isolated Leviathan that some people seem to believe, but they are trading decisions made by millions of agents with their interests,” he said. Another minister who supports Truss is Kemi Bandenoch, from International Trade, who assured that “of course” her boss will win the next elections, despite the doubts expressed in this congress by the Tory militancy.