British Prime Minister Liz Truss has had a troubled party congress. The party is deeply divided on how to finance its ‘growth, growth, growth agenda’.
Some party members doubt whether Truss will still be prime minister at Christmas
Some of the plans for lower taxes for the wealthiest Britons have already been rolled back, but the divisions remain. Some party members doubt whether Truss will still be prime minister before Christmas.
During her first speech as party leader, Truss sidestepped all the thorny subjects that await her. She sought to unite her party by contrasting the agenda of ‘hope and aspiration’ with the ‘anti-growth obsession’ of ‘ultra-left’ opponents. This is according to Truss a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrats, the Scottish SNP, strikers and protesters chaining themselves on main roads.
Her speech at the party congress in Birmingham was interrupted by two Greenpeace representatives who held a banner and shouted in despair who voted for these measures, a reference to the small 100,000 Conservative members who voted on Truss’s premiership. The protesters were quickly led out of the room and the applause with which Truss labeled them as representatives of the ‘anti-growth coalition’ she had identified was the loudest of her speech.
Apparent support at party congress was misleading
But the apparent support in the room was misleading. Apart from her cabinet members, most of the party members had chosen to ignore the congress. And where Truss and her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng already made a significant turn on Monday with the withdrawal of their plan to abolish the top tax rate, difficult discussions await in the coming weeks as new parts of their plan must be piloted through the House of Commons.
‘Truss makes an unforgivable mistake’
According to columnist Sarah Vine of The Daily Mail Truss makes the unforgivable mistake of failing to placate opponents in her party, such as her ex-husband and former Redistribution Secretary Michael Gove. And Gove isn’t alone in the faction who is frustrated that he’s been indiscriminately pushed aside by the exclusive group of liberal Conservatives Truss leads.
The discussion appears to be centered on whether welfare subsidies are linked to inflation, as promised by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, or whether public servants’ wage increases follow. Truss previously made it clear that she is capable of withdrawing plans. The pressure to do the same on other politically sensitive topics is therefore only increasing.