UK PM insists on leading Conservatives into next general election

London, Oct 18

Despite the ongoing political upheaval, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has insisted on leading the ruling Conservative Party into the next general election.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday night, Truss apologised "for the mistakes that have been made", and accepted responsibility for going "too far, too fast".

The Prime Minister added that she remained committed to a "low tax, high growth economy", but "we will have to deliver that in a different way".

"I do think it is the mark of an honest politician who does say 'yes, I've made a mistake. I've addressed that mistake. And now we need to deliver for people. It would have been completely irresponsible for me not to act in the national interest in the way I have," she told the BBC.

Truss's remarks came just hours after the newly-appointed Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt announced that nearly all the tax cuts announced during last month's mini-budget, outlined by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng, would be scrapped.

Addressing the House of Commons earlier Monday, Hunt warned that "decisions of eye-watering difficulty" on tax and spending remain ahead of an economic statement on October 31, when he will give further details of a plan to reduce the UK's debt burden, reports the BBC.

Hunt also added that the support scheme for UK households and businesses facing rising energy costs will only run until next April, and a Treasury-led review will be conducted after that to consider what support will be needed then.

On September 23, the government unveiled a 45-billion-pound tax cut package, the largest since 1972, to boost economic growth, but it threw financial markets into turmoil as the British pound collapsed to record lows and government borrowing costs rose sharply.

Investors are concerned that the tax-cutting measures will ramp up public borrowing, bring serious fiscal uncertainty and push up already high inflation.

To calm markets, the Bank of England (BoE) announced temporary purchases of long-dated UK government bonds at the end of September, and later stepped up the measures, increasing the maximum size of the auctions and expanding bond buying to include index-linked gilts.

The BoE on Monday confirmed that it terminated these operations and ceased all bond purchases, noting that "these operations have enabled a significant increase in the resilience of the sector".

--IANS