At her first parliamentary cricket as Britain’s Prime Minister on Wednesday, Liz Truss confirmed plans to stem the spike in energy costs that threaten to plunge her new government into a winter of discontent.
Truss ran with opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer for the first time since succeeding Boris Johnson and also reveled in her status as the UK government’s third female Prime Minister, noting that Labor has yet to elect a female leader.
Truss ruled out an unexpected tax on energy companies’ gargantuan profits, but said details of her plan would be released Thursday to ensure consumers and businesses can still afford heating in the months to come.
While Johnson used the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session to theatrically attack Starmer, Truss was more matter-of-fact when she promised a right-wing tax cut program to revive Britain’s economy.
Starmer called Truss the heir to 12 years of Tory government that led to the current inflationary crisis linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine and said there was “nothing new” about their policies.
“There is nothing new in a Labor leader calling for more tax hikes,” Truss countered, to cheers from Conservative MPs – most of whom originally backed her rival Rishi Sunak.
Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May mischievously asked Truss why only the Conservatives managed to elect women leaders – May herself and Margaret Thatcher. A Tory backbench shouted “3-0!”
Starmer’s deputy Angela Rayner looked on with a pained expression as Truss said it was “extraordinary” that Labor could not find a female leader, or one who did not live in left-leaning north London.
– Historical variety –
Earlier on Wednesday, Truss convened her newly formed cabinet, which includes the most diverse top team in British history: Kwasi Kwarteng as Treasury Secretary, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.
Under the costly plans developed by Truss and Kwarteng, gas and electricity bills for households and businesses are to be capped at current levels for at least the coming winter.
The government would provide or guarantee private sector loans to energy suppliers to make up the difference they are paying from soaring global wholesale prices, which have pushed UK inflation above 10 per cent.
Rising inflation to 40-year highs has sparked a wave of strikes, including by rail workers and criminal lawyers, with more sectors threatening to pull out in an early challenge from the Truss government.
On the eve of Truss’ power plan announcement, the British pound collapsed to its lowest dollar level since 1985, falling around 1400 GMT to $1.1406.
As well as the pressing issue of energy prices, the Truss government must also tackle the flammable issue of post-Brexit trade deals in Northern Ireland.
In her first contacts with foreign leaders, the new Conservative leader spoke by phone with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then-US President Joe Biden late Tuesday.
– ‘moronic’ –
According to Downing Street, she agreed with Biden “on the importance of protecting” the peace in Northern Ireland.
In Parliament, Truss said she was “determined” to break the impasse and favored a “negotiated solution” with the EU.
Truss vowed to Zelensky to maintain Johnson’s full support for Ukraine against Russia before being forced out of office following a series of scandals.
Truss, 47, won an internal vote by Tory members on Monday, securing 57 percent of the vote after a grueling battle against former Finance Minister Sunak that began in July.
She now faces a difficult challenge of reuniting the ruling Tories after the leadership struggle, but observers noted she had expelled almost every Sunak supporter from the cabinet.
Ex-soldier Johnny Mercer said he was “disappointed” to be sacked as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
His wife, Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, went further and called Truss an “idiot” when she tweeted an image that mocked the new prime minister as a dimwitted character from “The Muppets.”
The Times quoted one of her new ministers as saying: “I doubt she will last two years.”
Labor has a double-digit lead in the polls but may have to wait two years to test its popularity.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for January 2025 at the latest. Truss again ruled out a snap election on Wednesday, perhaps recognizing it will take time to win over a skeptical electorate after Johnson’s defenestration.
A new poll by Ipsos found that just a third of people expect Truss to do a good job as Prime Minister, while another third say she will do a poor job.
