UK PM Liz Truss 'sorry' for economic plan, spending cuts to come

Liz Truss, the prime minister, issued an apology for endangering the stability of the British economy after being forced to abandon her extensive tax-cutting plans in favor of a program of "eye-watering" public spending cuts.

Truss apologized for going "too far and too fast" with her radical economic plan to shake Britain out of years of stagnant growth after weeks of blaming the markets and "global headwinds" for investors selling the pound and government bonds. Her plan was designed to spur the country out of stagnant growth.

Just six weeks after taking office, Truss is now struggling to survive after the markets crashed after her "mini-budget" on September 23. Truss's finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, shredded her plans on Monday.

It was unclear if Truss's apology would put an end to a rising uprising within her ruling Conservative Party, where a few legislators were calling for her resignation. Numerous people worry that they will be fired after the next election.

Even one of her ministers agreed that she could not afford to make any more mistakes, which could be challenging as her government looks for significant cost savings that could exacerbate the anticipated recession. Hunt has already declined to guarantee the spending plans of the defense and health departments.

Even Conservative Party members who backed her for prime minister, according to a recent YouGov poll, appeared to be having second thoughts. More than half of those surveyed members believed she should step down, and a third wanted her predecessor, Boris Johnson, to take her place.

Truss said to the BBC late on Monday, "I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made.

She continued, "We went too far and too fast, but I wanted to act to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast," adding that she was "sticking around" and that she would lead the Conservatives into the next election, which is scheduled for about two years from now.

Truss sat motionless in parliament on Monday as Hunt tore apart the economic strategy she had put forth less than a month earlier, which had caused such a severe decline in the bond market that the Bank of England had to intervene to stop pension funds from collapsing.

'THE GHOST PM'

Some members of the party lacked confidence in the prime minister's ability to continue fighting after seeing her humiliated in front of lawmakers.

With the headline "In office but not in power," The Daily Mail, which had praised Truss's plan, ran a front-page photo of her leaving parliament on Monday. The Sun, which had also been supportive, dubbed her "The Ghost PM."

Truss, his boss, could not afford to make any more mistakes, according to James Heappey, a minister for the armed forces.

Tuesday, Truss met with her cabinet team. She was then scheduled to address her lawmakers, who have been urged by government insiders to hold off on any move to remove her until the government makes its full case for doing so.fiscal strategy on October 31.

Truss was elected by Conservative party members, not the general electorate, on a platform of cutting taxes and regulations to boost the economy, a strategy derided by opponents as a return to "trickle-down" economics of the 1980s.

Markets, however, reacted so violently that borrowing costs shot up, lenders withdrew their mortgage offers, and pension funds went into meltdown.

According to the Bank of England, a Financial Times report about a new delay in the start of its government bond sales was untrue. The FT reported that after deeming the gilts market to be "very distressed" in recent weeks, top officials were likely to decide a delay was required.

Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair (RYA.I), compared Britain's economic situation to a "car crash" and attributed it to the country's 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.

SPENDING SQUEEZE

Hunt may now need to find more public spending cuts than the government would have if Truss hadn't unveiled her economic strategy at a time of skyrocketing inflation. This is because Britain's economic reputation has been destroyed.

After 10 years of successive Conservative governments slashing departmental budgets, Torsten Bell, the head of the think tank Resolution Foundation, told BBC radio that the government may need to find savings of about 30 billion pounds ($34 billion) in public spending. This will be a very challenging political task.

Truss's extensive, two-year energy support package, which was projected to cost well over 100 billion pounds, is one area of spending that has already been completed.

Hunt has stated that assistance for individuals, families, and businesses will now last through April before being reviewed, leading analysts to predict that families may have to pay 5,000 pounds in energy costs in 2019.

On Monday, Hunt reneged on earlier commitments, like the promise to raise pensions in line with inflation.

(1 dollar = 0.8807 pounds)