Keir Starmer vows to maintain saying Liz Truss crashed the economic system regardless of authorized risk

Keir Starmer has vowed to keep saying Liz Truss crashed the economy in spite of a legal threat from the former PM.

Lawyers for the former PM, who was forced to resign in disgrace after a disastrous 49 days in office, sent a letter to Mr Starmer about “false and defamatory public statements you made about our client in the lead-up to the UK general election from late May 2024″.

They asked the Prime Minister to “immediately cease and desist” from repeating a claim he made last June, in which he talks about Ms Truss “crashing” or having “crashed” the economy. And they claimed the PM’s comments may have contributed to her losing her seat in the election.

But asked if the PM planned to moderate his language in response to the letter, his official spokesman said: “No.”

“I don’t think the Prime Minister is the only person in the country who shares the view in relation to the previous government’s handling of the economy,” he said.

“I guess the question is whether she’ll be writing to millions of people up and down the country as well who felt like her economic record pushed their mortgage bills up.”

He added that the PM “absolutely stands by” his comments about his predecessor.

And in Parliament, Commons leader Lucy Powell told MPs: “She might want us to cease and desist, but we won’t cease and desist from telling the truth that they (the Conservatives) crashed the economy.” The weeks following Ms Truss’s mini-budget saw adverse market reaction and mortgage costs soar.

Referring to the movements in gilts and exchange rates at that time, the letter says: “Such rate movements cannot properly be described as a crash of the economy. To use such an expression is to display ignorance of basic economics and common usage of the term ‘crash’ when referred to an economy.”

The lawyers also suggest that Sir Keir’s repetition of the claims in the lead up to last year’s general election “gives rise to a strong inference” that they were intended to “damage our client’s reputation and/or for political purposes”. The letter asks for the Prime Minister to “immediately cease and desist” from repeating the claims.