Liz Truss defends mini-budget, tax cuts in British radio interviews
Liz Truss #LizTruss
Sept. 29 (UPI) — In a series of BBC News local radio interviews on Thursday, British Prime Minister Liz Truss repeatedly defended her “mini-budget” despite international criticism, saying the government had to take action on the economy.
Truss told BBC Radio that the government had “to take decisive action” leading it to push for tax cuts in the face of rising inflation. She said the decision was made to “get the economy moving” and “deal with inflation” but admitted that “growth won’t come through overnight.”
The tax cuts, announced last Friday, represented the steepest Britain had seen since the 1970s, totaling about $48.6 billion. The unfunded tax cuts led to a selloff of British government bonds and a dramatic fall of the pound against the dollar to record levels.
This week’s tax cuts resulted in pushback from the International Monetary Fund, which asked Truss on Tuesday to reconsider the move because it could stoke inequality. Some experts said the tax cuts moved against the Bank of England’s efforts to combat inflation by increasing interest rates.
Truss said on Thursday, though, that her government is working closely with the Bank of England on its fiscal plans.
“The important thing is the British government acted to protect people from these high energy costs, to make sure we’re getting the economy going,” Truss said.
In an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk, Truss dismissed the criticism of her mini-budget as commonplace and insisted her government could not sit back and do nothing in the face of high energy costs coming this winter.
“Of course, there are elements of controversy, as there always are,” Truss said. “What nobody is arguing with is that we had to take action. This is the right plan that we’ve set out.”
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