Chancellor says ‘Lettuce’ Liz Truss’ price range remains to be clobbering Brits badly
John Healey warned that Britain is still paying the price for the former PM’s policies during her time in Number 10 in 2022. He claims it ‘crashed the economy’
Liz Truss(Image: Getty Images)
Chancellor John Healey says Britain is still paying the price for Liz Truss’s lettuce-losing stint in Number 10. He said Brits have been walloped by a “Truss penalty” ever since her disastrous 2022 mini-Budget sent Government borrowing costs soaring.
Before the chaos, Britain’s debt costs had been around the average for G7 nations, he said. He claims the financial meltdown “crashed the economy and collapsed confidence in Britain’s fiscal strength”, making it more expensive for the Government to borrow.
He added: “Since 2022, we have been paying that Truss penalty as we battle to re-establish belief in Britain and the UK’s fiscal sustainability.”
John Healey(Image: Getty Images)
The Chancellor launched the attack on the former PM as he vowed to keep a tight rein on the nation’s finances in his first major speech in the job. Government borrowing costs have surged, with the yield on 10-year bonds hitting a 19-year high last week.
Mr Healey said: “There’s nothing progressive about the government spending £1 in £10 on debt interest.” He promised to balance the books with a “buffer” against future financial shocks in next month’s Budget.
But Ms Truss hit back at the Chancellor’s claims. Sharing a report of his comments on X, she insisted: “The penalty is a result of NOT following my policies.”
Ms Truss lasted just 49 days in No10 after her tax-cutting mini-Budget sparked turmoil on financial markets. The Daily Star famously put her staying power to the test against an iceberg lettuce in a live-stream watched around the world.
Our leafy challenger was crowned the winner when Ms Truss resigned before the veg had even wilted. The former PM stepped down on October 20, 2022, making her Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister.
Mr Healey also reiterated the Government’s commitment to transferring power out of Whitehall, saying he would set out a “roadmap to fiscal devolution” at next month’s Budget. He announced that The British Business Bank would be providing £150 million for fast-growing firms in the North of England and the creation of a “Northern 500” group of “the North’s most ambitious mid-sized businesses”, to be led by regional mayors.
The Chancellor(Image: Matthew Horwood/PA Wire)
He said he wanted to double the number of “unicorn” firms in the UK and that he and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds would seek out new ones and make the state the “early first customer”. And he set the aim of having “sandboxing powers” in place next year, so businesses and innovators can test frontier technology “from pavement robots to drones to life-saving medical treatments”, which he said regulation currently prevents.
He said the Government should grasp the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, but said he would not “allow the technology to proliferate with no oversight”.
