Henry Hill: Truss has big ambitions. But she inherits a weak position
Economic growth, energy supplies and the NHS. These were the three key priorities listed in Liz Truss’s somewhat concise inaugural speech on the steps of Downing Street.
They are good priorities, as they go – although MPs in
“red wall” seats will likely have picked up, as did the Yorkshire Post, that she has once again failed to make any mention of levelling up.
With just two years to go to persuade the millions of voters who took a chance on the Conservatives for the first time in 2019 that they made the right decision, this could end up being a dangerous oversight.
But back to what she did say. The big question hanging over that wish list is “How?” For example, she mentioned putting “spades in the ground” to help drive down energy bills. Yet Conservative MPs are allergic to onshore wind, and while Truss supports fracking in theory, the will to get wells dug is absent.
The levelling-up and regeneration bill, which covers planning, could be a vehicle for a transformative, centrally driven energy infrastructure programme. But backbench opposition would probably prove fatal.
Truss clearly has big ambitions. But she inherits a weak position, another leader’s mandate, and a divided party. Good luck to her.
Henry Hill is deputy editor of ConservativeHome
Nadia Whittome: My generation’s future looks bleaker than ever
Despite a Tory leadership contest that dragged on as the cost of living crisis mounted and a recession loomed, Truss’s first speech was lacking in detail. There was just one sentence about action on energy bills, due to soar by 80%, prolonging the agony for people desperately trying to plan for winter.
Content with a rigged economy that works only for the wealthiest – as her previous declaration that tax cuts benefiting the richest most were “fair” demonstrates – Truss doesn’t have the will to offer anything more than sticking plasters over the gaping wounds inflicted on this country by 12 years of Tory rule. While taking aim at the energy crisis, low growth and an NHS in tatters, she failed to identify the real culprit – her own party. It’s like calling the arsonist to put out the fire.
She should have offered to give people help that meets the scale of the immediate challenge – not only freezing energy bills, but lowering them to where they were before the sharp rises in April; raising benefits and the minimum wage above inflation; and committing to a proper pay rise for public sector workers. The public overwhelmingly supports bringing energy back into public hands – away from companies making profits from people’s misery.
In the long term we need action that addresses the multiple crises our country faces. A green new deal would help to lower energy consumption permanently through house retrofitting, while delivering new jobs in every part of the country. It would also hasten our transition to renewables, not only combating climate change, but reducing our vulnerability to shocks in the gas and oil markets and our dependence on authoritarian regimes.
Without bold action, working people will continue to suffer and my generation’s future looks bleaker than ever – but there is no evidence that Truss will deliver.
Nadia Whittome is Labour MP for Nottingham East
Carys Roberts: Some notable departures by omission – no mention of levelling up
Over the past few months Liz Truss has been winning round the Conservative party membership. She now has a much larger challenge – to win around the UK public. In her first of three priorities, she stuck true to her leadership election pledges to cut taxes to get the economy growing. In her other two priorities, of dealing with energy bills and fixing the huge issues in the NHS, she pivoted to speak to the public.
So far, Truss’s pitch has been an ideological one as she has sought to position herself as heir to Thatcher. Tax cuts, no handouts. That was never going to survive contact with the political reality of an energy bills crisis, and she is likely to present some form of price cap plan later this week. She may find the same is true of her tax cut agenda. There is no evidence that taxes on business are limiting investment and economic growth. Cuts to personal taxes and national insurance will do little for those likely to be hit hardest by the coming recession. But taxes on profits and high incomes will be needed to stop energy producers and the wealthy being the main beneficiaries of government action on the energy crisis – and to fund strong public services including the NHS.
Truss has hinted throughout her leadership election campaign that she wants to uproot the shibboleths of economic policymaking – including questioning the mandate of the Bank of England, and overcoming Treasury orthodoxy. Her first few words as prime minister were much more familiar and safe territory for Conservative politicians – to “get Britain working again”, in an “aspiration nation” built on principles of freedom, enterprise and fair play. New thinking was not unveiled here. But there were some notable departures by omission. Opportunity everywhere, but no driving mission on “burning injustices” or “levelling up” as her predecessors set out standing on the steps of Downing Street. And nothing to say on the climate crisis and net zero – rather that there will be spades in the ground to build roads.
The challenge for Truss is that to persuade the British public she’s up to the job and to leave her mark on the UK economy, she’ll need to address not just the current challenges, but also the enduring ones.
Carys Roberts is executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research
Chaitanya Kumar: Truss’s energy proposal carries a sting in the tail
The new prime minister has promised action to tackle the energy crisis in week one of her premiership and, if rumours are to be believed, it may involve a big freeze on energy bills, which could cost the government well over £90bn over 12 months. This would certainly protect people this winter but her proposal could also carry a sting in its tail as energy bills could remain high for well over a decade to pay for this short-term support. Meanwhile suppliers’ profits remain untouched.
The crisis has reinforced the fact that energy is an essential commodity. There is a strong case for providing some form of universal basic provision of cheaper energy for low income households that incentivises efficiency. The current crisis is also one of incomes, and short-term universal measures need to be followed by permanent targeted support through the welfare system, so households aren’t moving from one crisis to another.
But let’s not forget the ultimate goal of this government, which is to scale back the state in our lives and boost economic growth through tax cuts. We should remain highly sceptical of this approach even if Truss and her chancellor are willing to relax the fiscal rules in the short term.
Chaitanya Kumar is head of environment and green transition at the New Economics Foundation
