‘Brutal’: media deride Liz Truss’s local radio interviews

Liz Truss spent the morning speaking to local BBC radio stations to insist her government’s economic policy is on the right course despite Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget prompting an emergency intervention from the Bank of England to prevent a run on pension funds, a slump in the value of the pound and a rise in the cost of government debt.

The prime minister said she was “prepared to take difficult decisions” and would not change policy, despite being repeatedly pressed by presenters, leading to criticism from many media commentators across the political spectrum, with one calling the interviews an “utter disaster” and another saying it was “the most brutal round of local radio interviews a prime minister has faced”.

Here is a roundup:

From the Observer’s Toby Helm:

From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges:

From the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar:

From Politics Home’s Alan White:

From the Telegraph’s Jack Maidment:

From ITV’s Paul Brand:

From the Observer’s Sonia Sodha

From the Times’ Steven Swinford:

From the i’s Paul Waugh:

From the Guardian’s John Crace:

From City AM’s Jack Mendel:

From Byline Times’ Adam Bienkov:

From the New Statesman’s Adrian Bradley: