Liz Truss has admitted she could have done a "better job" over her tax-slashing mini budget that plunged the UK economy into turmoil.
The Prime Minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that she could have "laid the ground" better about the plans contained in the Government's fiscal statement last Friday.
She also refused to u-turn on any of her plan which is expected to cost £72 billion in borrowing next year and gives people on over £150,000 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland a massive tax cut.
Truss said: "I'm afraid there is an issue that interest rates are going up around the world and we do have to face that. But I do want to say to people I understand their worries about what has happened this week.
"I do stand by the package we announced and I stand by the fact we announced it quickly, because we had to act. But I do accept we should have laid the ground better... I have learnt from that and I will make sure that in future we do a better job of laying the ground."
During the interview ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham Truss also didn't rule out cuts to public services, saying they will remain "excellent".
She said "What I'm going to do is make sure we get value for money for the taxpayer. But I'm very, very committed to making sure we've got excellent frontline public services.
"And I'm not going to go into what the Chancellor will announce in his medium-term fiscal plan. He's going to announce that very shortly, it will come together with an OBR forecast."
Pressed on whether her refusal to rule out cuts suggested that she will go down that path, she said: "No it doesn't, because I can't exactly set out what is going to be in this plan. What I can promise is we're going to reduce debt as a proportion of GDP."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
