LONDON: British Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted she would not quit on Wednesday as she faced questions from booing MPs at her first Question Time session since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies.
Truss faced hostile questioning from opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, who asked the House of Commons: “What´s the point of a prime minister whose promises don´t even last a week?”
Starmer mocked Truss by leading his MPs in chants of “Gone, gone!” as he read out a list of her dropped policies. “Why is she still here?” he concluded. Truss responded defiantly: “I am a fighter and not a quitter”, insisting that “I am someone who is prepared to front up. I´m prepared to take the tough decisions”.
She insisted: “I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.” The session took place less than 48 hours after new finance minister Jeremy Hunt dismembered Truss´s flagship tax plans in a humiliating blow. He sat at her side in parliament, nodding along to her responses.
While castigating Truss for conducting “an economic experiment on the British public”, Starmer said dismissively: “How could she be held to account when she´s not in charge?” At least five Conservative party MPs have already publicly called for her to be replaced amid catastrophic popularity ratings.
Polls show Truss´s personal and party ratings have plummeted, with YouGov saying Tuesday that -- within six weeks of taking power -- she had become the most unpopular leader it has ever tracked.
A separate survey of party members found less than two months after electing her Tory leader and prime minister, a majority now think she should go. Foreign minister James Cleverly defended Truss on Sky News on Wednesday, however, saying he was “far, far from convinced” that “defenestrating another prime minister will either convince the British people that we´re thinking about them or convince the markets to stay calm”.
Meanwhile, the main Labour opposition has opened up huge poll leads over the ruling Conservatives, amid the recent fallout as well as the worsening cost-of-living crisis, with inflation jumping above 10 percent on Wednesday on soaring food prices.
More than three-quarters of people disapprove of the government -- the highest in 11 years, YouGov said. The government´s September 23 mini-budget -- which slashed a host of taxes without curbing spending -- sent bond yields spiking and the pound collapsing to a record dollar-low on fears of rocketing UK debt.