Liz Truss has apologised for going “too far and too fast” with the economic policies in her “mini-budget” and has accepted responsibility for the problems created by it.
The prime minister refused to say whether her vision for Britain was “dead”, during an interview with BBC political editor Chris Mason but admitted that she had made mistakes. She also said that she would lead the Conservative party into the next general election.
Truss said: “I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry, for the mistakes that have been made. I wanted to act but to help people with their energy bills to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast. I’ve acknowledged that. I put in place a new chancellor with a new strategy to restore economic stability.
“I recognise that we did act too fast, and that’s why I’ve adjusted what we’re doing and 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, you known what we’ve said we’ll deliver.”
Truss admitted that government policies have made things harder for families and their ability to pay their mortgages, the repayments on which have risen since Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s “mini-budget”.
“I have said sorry for the fact that we did act too far. We went too far and too fast … The reason I did that was to make sure that we were dealing with the immediate issue of the energy crisis. And we did help people with their energy bills.”
The prime minister sought to reassure vulnerable families that they would still get support with their energy bills, despite another U-turn on Monday that the government finance in place that keeps the average bill for a household to £2500 would only be universally available until April.
“I can can reassure people off is that the most vulnerable will be protected into next winter. We’re looking at exactly how we can do that. And being in government is always about a balance or being able to make those decisions but I also have to think about and the chancellor has to think about economic stability. So we will make sure those households who are struggling, do have that support into next winter. We’ll be saying more about that in due course,” she said.
Truss repeated her campaign’s central pledge that she is focused on growth, and emphasised that she had been “upfront and honest” with her apology and undoing the policies she had Kwarteng had introduced.
“Well my message to my colleagues is yes, I completely acknowledge that there have been mistakes. I have acted swiftly to fix those mistakes. I’ve been honest about what those mistakes were. And what we now need to do is move forward and deliver for the country because that’s ultimately, that’s ultimately what people care about. People care about us delivering and that’s what we as elected politicians need to focus on.”