Liz Truss battles to survive

London, Oct 13

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is battling to survive as ministers refused to rule out an humiliating U-turn on tax cuts to appease increasingly mutinous Tories, media reports said on Thursday.

The PM is desperately seeking solutions after a brutal showdown with her own MPs last night, where she was accused of :trashing the last 10 years" of work, Daily Mail reported.

She is being warned that she must rethink on key measures in Chancellor of Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget, which helped trigger market chaos that has sent the pound plummeting and government borrowing costs soaring.

The grim situation the Conservatives face has been underlined by a poll showing Labour leading by 13 points in the so-called 'Blue Wall' - suggesting Keith Starmer would seize a swathe of previously safe seats in heartlands.

Some politicians are plotting to replace Truss with Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt or suggesting a comeback for Boris Johnson, Daily Mail reported.

Mordaunt tried to laugh off rumours that she is on manoeuvres, telling the Commons that her resting face is like a "bulldog chewing a wasp" and people "should not read too much into that".

The panic is so deep that there are claims MPs are even mulling "bizarre" options, such as backing a snap election so that a Labour government has to deal with the worst of the cost of living crisis, Daily Mail reported.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly toured broadcast studios to try and cool the mood this morning, but fueled more speculation as he stopped short of saying plans to axe a rise in corporation tax will be kept.

Barely a month into the PM's time in No10, Cleverly was also left begging Tories not to mount a coup.

"We have got to recognise that we do need to bring certainty to the markets," he told Sky News.

"I think changing the leadership would be a disastrously bad idea politically and also economically. We are absolutely going to stay focused on growing the economy."

--IANS