Liz Truss now has to live up to her many pledges, speeches and vague hints at change.
The new Prime Minister made a string of commitments in the campaign, from scrapping a corporation tax rise to reversing a national insurance hike, boosting defence spending and identifying China as a threat to UK security.
She also made more elusive comments - from axing motorway speed limits to extending the school day.
Now she’s in power the first question will be how many of those pledges she actually follows through.
A cost-of-living announcement is due in the first seven days and a crackdown on workers’ rights in the first 30, but few have time limits.
So it’s useful to have a print-out-and-keep guide to what she’s said she will do, and come back to it a year or two later.
We examine the promises - good and bad - that she now has to put into action before an election in 2024.
ZELENSKY CALL: Imminent. Liz Truss promised to make Volodymyr Zelensky the first foreign leader she calls as PM, saying she will be Kyiv’s “greatest friend” with more lethal and humanitarian aid.
DEFENCE: 2030. Pledged to “increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030” - up from current 2% target and above the 2.5% by 2030 pledged under Boris Johnson - “so we remain invested in peace and stability.”
CHINA: Unknown time. Committed to “update the Integrated Review” of defence spending to write a new chapter on “tackling the aggression we’ve seen from the likes of China and Russia ”. Promised to “build a network of liberty with like minded nations” and stand up to Beijing more on the world stage - including blocking Chinese investment in the Sizewell C power plant.
COST OF LIVING HELP: Likely Thursday. Ms Truss pledged an announcement in her first week on energy bills, confirming a National Insurance and green levies cut - but new measures too. A freeze on bills - funded by government-backed loans - is rumoured while targeted help for the vulnerable is possible, in a package allies say will rival the £70bn furlough scheme. Critics may well say it’s not enough.
EMERGENCY BUDGET: Rumoured September 21. New PM at first promised an “emergency budget” but changed to “fiscal event” after admitting she will not commission independent OBR forecasts of the economy. Will confirm National Insurance cut, and cancel next year’s corporation tax rise from 19% to 25%. She has vowed to direct the £12bn-a-year Health and Care Levy from NHS into social care, and will launch a “tax review”, looking at things like business rates, Freeports for big firms to avoid tax, and rules for parents who stay at home with loved ones. She pledged “no new taxes” during the campaign - a big hostage to fortune. And she vowed to look at inheritance tax, raising prospect of another cut for wealthy families.
SPENDING REVIEW: Unknown time. She promised a new “Spending Review to find efficiencies in government spending” - just a year after the last one. That sounds like a threat of cuts. It’s unclear if this would be on the same date as a Budget.
DIVERT NHS CASH: Unknown time. New PM vowed to keep a £12bn-a-year health and care levy despite axing National Insurance hike that funds it. And all the cash would be poured into social care - instead of £30.7bn of the first £36bn going to NHS backlogs. NHS leaders warned this would leave a gaping black hole
HER OWN TAXES: Unknown time. Asked “will you publish your full tax affairs if you’re Prime Minister?”, she replied: “Yes”.
WORKERS’ RIGHTS TORN UP: October 5. New PM promised to “introduce” a law cracking down on the right to strike within 30 days - which happens to be the day of her Tory conference speech. It would force “minimum service levels” on “critical national infrastructure”, making workers cross picket lines to keep services running. The threshold of all union members having to back a strike would rise from 40% to 50% - despite Ms Truss herself winning only 47% of all Tory members’ votes. Minimum notice would rise from two to four weeks. Civil servants were already working on the plans before Ms Truss was named PM. It’s rumoured she could also rip up EU rules limiting the working week to 48 hours.
DOMESTIC ABUSE CRACKDOWN: ‘Rapidly’. Vowed to “rapidly” introduce National Domestic Abuse Register covering violence, coercive and controlling behaviour and financial abuse. Would also “guarantee mandatory training” for PCs in handling abuse and make street harassment a standalone offence, but no time limit was given for this.
SCHOOL SPORT: Unknown time. She “committed to investigating” what stops schools giving two hours’ PE classes a week.
SCHOOL DAY: Unknown time. Reopened debate over extending school day which was killed off under Boris Johnson. “I support schools opening for longer hours,” she said, “to help get children the skills they need, but also to make sure they are less prone to potential alternatives”. She added there should be more youth clubs - which could be funded by the private sector or run by volunteers.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS: Unknown time. Backed more grammar schools, suggesting she'll lift Labour ban on new ones. In a six-point plan she also vowed to replace failing academies with "a new wave of free schools" and to improve maths and literacy standards.
OXBRIDGE CLAIMS: Unknown time. Pledged "students who get top grades in their A levels would be automatically invited to apply" to Oxbridge. But she did not explain how it’ll work.
LEVELLING UP: Unknown time. Vowed to “review the levelling up formula” after it gave south east twice as much as north east last year, and “create” a replacement. She would also “commit to” two new vocational institutions in the north of England, dubbed ‘Voxbridge’, and “ensure transport links are better integrated across buses, road, and rail”.
NORTHERN POWERHOUSE RAIL: Unknown time. Would “deliver in full” the high-speed east-west line via Leeds and Manchester that was virtually dumped under Boris Johnson, with trains instead put on existing track. But she didn't explain how she'll fund the multi-billion-pound cost. Also pledged to deliver Midlands Rail Hub and Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro Extension “in full”, plus “continue with” existing £500m pledge to restore lines the fell under the Beeching axe in 1960s.
A1 DUALLED: Unknown time. Told hustings in Darlington: “Of course we need the A1 dualled … we need to get it dualled from top to bottom”. Decisions have been repeatedly delayed.
‘WOKE’ CIVIL SERVICE: Unknown time. Pledged to “change woke civil service culture that strays into antisemitism” in a statement that prompted a furious backlash from officials. Her team refused to explain what she meant or how she’d tackle the supposed problem. Also vowed to “review whether schools are doing enough to educate pupils and teachers about antisemitism”.
ISRAEL TRADE: Unknown time. Pledged to “work to secure a free trade agreement between UK and Israel”.
WELFARE CRACKDOWN: Unknown time. Told Leeds hustings: "I would tighten up our incentives in our welfare system to encourage more people to go into work." Did not explain what she would do or when but it comes after Universal Credit rules were already tightened this year.
SCRAP HOUSING TARGETS: Unknown time. Vowed to let rent payments be used as part of affordability test for a mortgage, through an upcoming mortgage review. Pledged to scrap “top-down” housing targets that have endured years of failure under Tory rule, and “reform planning system” to remove “red tape” despite such reforms being axed months ago.
SCRAPPING EU LAWS: December 2023. Pledged a ‘sunset’ deadline for every EU-derived business law and “test whether it supports UK growth by the end of 2023”. “For regulations that don’t pass muster we will work with industry experts to create better home-grown laws, or repeal them altogether.” She would also
TRADE: Unknown time. Promised a ‘New Commonwealth Deal’ to strengthen economic ties and be “a vital bulwark to China”. It would fast-track trade deals with Commonwealth countries to remove tariffs and restrictions.
MOTORWAY SPEED LIMITS: Unknown time. Told a hustings “I would look at” scrapping mandatory speed limits on motorways. She did not elaborate but it came four years after she suggested hiking the limit to 80mph - supposedly to boost national productivity by helping car and van drivers get to meetings more quickly.
POLICE TOLD TO CUT CRIMES: 2024. Said she will “expect” police to cut murder, serious violence and neighbourhood crime by 20% between 2019 and the end of the Parliament, expected in 2024. Promised “league tables which show how each force is performing against the national trend”, using figures already collected by government.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM AND GROWTH: By 2032. Few predict Truss will be in power for a decade, but she told ConservativeHome: “What I will do is lay out a ten-year plan for public service reform, and a ten-year plan to change Britain’s economic growth rate. We should be growing on average at 2.5%.”
