Truss Seeks To Rally Tories, Saying Disruption Is Needed

(Bloomberg) --

UK premier Liz Truss sought to rally despondent members of her ruling Conservative Party after a bruising few days in which she U-turned on a flagship tax cut and members of her own cabinet spoke out against her economic plans.

“Whenever there is change, there is disruption,” Truss said in a closing speech to her party's conference in Birmingham on Wednesday.  “I'm determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest and to put us on a stronger footing.”

The annual gathering, just a month into Truss's tenure, has been overshadowed by a humiliating government climbdown over a plan to cut income tax for Britain's highest earners. While the proposal itself had sparked a sell-off in the pound and gilts amid market concerns about unfunded promises, the reversal then led to criticism from two cabinet ministers.

Meanwhile other ministers publicly warned that Truss must raise welfare payments in line with inflation, after she refused to commit to the plan.

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Truss sought to allay market concerns by promising to keep an “iron grip” on the country's finances, stating that she believes “in sound money and a lean state.” And while she showed contrition about her misstep in attempting to scrap the top rate of income tax, she also pledged the Conservatives would “always be the party of low taxes.”

The prime minister was forced to pause her speech when Greenpeace activists staged a protest in the audience, waving a banner asking: “Who voted for this?” Truss then quipped that they had arrived early, because later in her speech she planned to talk about the “anti-growth coalition.”

While party conferences are supposed to bring together like-minded people to celebrate their political achievements and showcase what's to come, this one has only exposed the Tories' deep divisions under a new premier with less than two years until an expected general election.

Market Rout

“Not everybody will be in favor of change,” Truss said. “But everyone will benefit from the result -- a growing economy and a better future. That is what we have a clear plan to deliver.”

But the market ructions and party disarray caused by the economic strategy Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced on Sept. 23 -- including the biggest set of unfunded tax cuts in half a century -- have sent the Tories plummeting in the polls to a record deficit behind Labour.

Weakened Truss Will Try to Show Tories She Can Still Deliver

Just 14% of Britons now have a favorable impression of Truss, down from 26% two weeks ago, according to a new YouGov survey released Wednesday.

Truss's and Kwarteng's economic plans also triggered a backlash from Tory Members of Parliament concerned that the government was focusing more on helping the rich than the lowest-paid, at a time when millions of Britons are struggling to pay their bills amid soaring inflation.

That led to Truss's surprise retreat on the top tax rate on Monday, less than 24 hours after she'd vowed to stick to the policy on live television.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman told a side event on Tuesday she was “disappointed” by the U-turn, while fellow cabinet minister Simon Clarke said Braverman was speaking “good sense.”

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hit back at the open dissent on Wednesday, telling Sky News: “It's always best done around the cabinet table.”

(Updates with Truss remarks, protest starting in second paragraph)

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