Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has vowed to do “all I can” to help millions of struggling families as UK households brace for the biggest collapse in living standards for 60 years.
In an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard, the Foreign Secretary ruled out what she described as “Gordon Brown-style handouts” to ease the squeeze on people’s finances as energy bills and inflation soar.
But she said she stood ready to offer more support through an emergency Budget if she wins the keys to No 10.
“I can assure you that I will do all I can to help households across Britain,” Ms Truss said. “I understand how difficult the circumstances are... that people are facing pressure on food bills and fuel bills and with the cost of living.
“I’m somebody who gets things done. I look at the evidence and I sort things out and that’s what I’ve committed to doing.”
The race to become Britain’s next prime minister has been dominated by a battle of ideas between Ms Truss and her rival for the leadership Rishi Sunak over how best to tackle the darkening economic crisis and the cost of living “emergency”.
On Wednesday, the two contenders were back on the campaign trail with Ms Truss in Manchester and Mr Sunak in London after Tuesday night’s hustings event with party members in the “red wall” constituency of Darlington.
But with business groups and anti-poverty campaigners calling for immediate action to tackle what former Labour prime minister Mr Brown called a ticking financial timebomb, both candidates are under pressure to come together with outgoing premier Boris Johnson to develop a plan to help families now.
Ms Truss ruled the idea out on Tuesday night, saying it would be “bizarre” but Mr Sunak told activists that he was prepared to meet with the Foreign Secretary. He also said he would look to help people with “direct support” to pay rising bills, which are forecast to jump to an eye-watering average of £4,200 per year from January.
Pressed on what support she would offer, Ms Truss told the Standard that it was still her preference to give people the power to “keep more of their own money” and to implement tax cuts which would boost economic growth.
She has said she would reverse April’s National Insurance rise, stop a planned rise in business taxes in 2023 and temporarily scrap the green energy levy.
But she left open the possibility of more support measures, saying: “I’m not going to say anything further about a future Budget in advance because I think that would be irresponsible. My fundamental principle as a Conservative is that our first choice should always be about helping people keep more of their own money. And we should be pursuing that strategy: not a sort of Gordon Brown-style, handout strategy.”
With just under four weeks to go in the campaign, Ms Truss is comfortably ahead in polls of the 160,000 Tory members who will choose Mr Johnson’s successor as party leader and Britain’s next prime minister by September 5.
However, allies of Mr Sunak have said Ms Truss’s tax cutting plan could be “electoral suicide” when it comes to a general election in 2024, set to take place against a worsening economic outlook.
Last week, the Bank of England predicted a 15-month recession with inflation soaring to more than 13 per cent and unemployment rising. It also warned that living standards are set to plunge to their lowest level since records began 60 years ago.
Asked if she still thinks a recession can be avoided, Ms Truss replied: “Absolutely. I believe that we have huge potential in this country. I know there’s business investment waiting to happen. What we need to do is get on with those post-Brexit reforms... turbo-charging our economy and keeping taxes low.”
Earlier this week, Ms Truss set out her priorities for London in the Standard, which include growing the capital’s economy, freeing the City from burdensome red tape and cutting crime by a fifth by 2024. Today, she added that while she would support a long-term funding deal for TfL, she would put London commuters first.
“What I would do is immediately legislate to deal with militant trade union action, to make sure that essential services are provided for London commuters,” she said. “My priority is people who work hard, who have to travel in to work every day. Those are the people I’m on the side of.”
While Ms Truss was born in Oxford and grew up in Paisley, near Glasgow, and Leeds, she also has a house in Greenwich (she was once on the borough’s council). She says Greenwich Park is one of her favourite places while restaurant Santo Remedio at London Bridge is her eatery of choice in the capital.
Ms Truss has a 38-point lead in the latest YouGov poll of Tory members. Asked if she was measuring up for a move to Downing Street, she said: “I am 100 per cent focused on getting out and about and meeting Conservative members across the country. I’m not complacent. I’m campaigning for everything.”
Money saving expert Martin Lewis warned on Wednesday of the “absolutely catastrophic” situation facing people in the coming months and urged Ms Truss to “give us tangible promises” of how she would help struggling families.
Tory MP Chris Skidmore said he has defected from the Sunak campaign to throw his support behind Ms Truss because he believed the former chancellor had been “consistently changing position” to “chase votes”. In a statement, he said: “I now believe that Liz is the best person to unite us and the country under her leadership in meeting the challenges we face head-on.”
A spokesman for the Foreign Secretary’s leadership bid said: “We’re in talks with others from Camp Rishi and Chris coming over could trigger a bigger exodus of MPs from Sunak to us.”
