Prime Minister Liz Truss has faced public questioning for the first time since the announcement of the Government's mini-budget last Friday which has sent the UK economy into turmoil.
The PM tours regional BBC radio stations this morning (Thursday) in a round of interviews, which started at BBC Radio Leads at 8am. At 8.08am she was appearing at Norfolk , 8.15am Kent, 8.22am Lancashire, 8.30am Nottingham, 8.38am Tees, 8.45am Bristol and 8.52am Stoke.
Liz Truss has been silent on the market crisis, including the collapse of the pound, since last Friday's mini-budget announcement, which included plans to cut taxes to the benefit of the most wealthy.
READ MORE: Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget - have your say
And questions about her silence was the first she faced during her interview on BBC Radio Leeds - the first of many local radio appearances this morning.
When asked where she had been, she responded with: "I'm here now talking to you."
She then added: "I think we've got to remember the situation we were facing this winter. We were facing a situation where people could have had to pay energy bills of up to £6,000 where inflation was increasing and where we were looking at economic slowdown, which would have had a huge impact right across the country, including in places like Leeds.
"So we had to take decisive action and that's why we took action to make sure people aren't paying a typical fuel bill of more than £2,500 - that's going to come in this Saturday.
"We had to take decisive action to help people through this winter and next winter. I understand that there are people struggling with their fuel bills and we had to take urgent action to get our economy growing and get Britain moving and also deal with inflation - and of course that means taking controversial and difficult decisions.
"But I'm prepared to do that at Prime Minister, because what's important to me is that we get our economy growing, we make sure that people are able to get through the winter and we are prepared to do what it takes to make that happen."
She told listeners on BBC Radio Leeds that her mini-budget has "made sure that people and businesses will be paying lower taxes". She added: "It's opened up new road projects, new infrastructure projects which will mean that we can get on with doing the things that will help people, whether it's getting to work, setting up their own business and growing the economy - and what it's done is made sure businesses and people are protected from these very high fuel bills, this winter.
"And let's remember why we're here. We're here because of Putin's appalling war in Ukraine. That has pushed up global energy prices.
"Countries are under pressure around the world and that's why it's so important that this government took urgent action and within a week of becoming Prime Minister I took urgent action on the energy bills, we've taken urgent action through our fiscal statement and we will continue to make sure that on the side of people who work had we do the right thing and make sure that people aren't facing those very very high energy costs."
"Of course, a lot of the measures we've announced won't happen overnight... but what's important is that we're putting this country on a better trajectory for the long term. The action we've taken on fuel bills will start this weekend and we acted quickly with that... with the economy at the moment, that's not just a drop in the water.
"The National Insurance reductions will happen this autumn - that's why we had to take urgent action to make sure people aren't facing these higher NI bills and the projects that we want to get on with (like the road projects, broadband, mobile projects) those will be happening over the next year.
"So we're getting things done as quickly as we can to get our economy moving but also, most importantly, making sure we're supporting families and businesses through what is a very tough winter."
On Wednesday, the Bank of England launched an emergency government bond-buying programme to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control and stave off a “material risk to UK financial stability”.
The Bank announced it was stepping in to buy up to £65 billion worth of Government bonds – known as gilts – at an “urgent pace” after fears over the Government’s economic policies sent the pound tumbling and sparked a sell-off in the gilts market.
The market turmoil had forced pension funds to sell Government bonds to head off worries over their solvency, but this was threatening to see them suffer severe losses.
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