I’ll bang drum for Britain, vows Liz
LIZ Truss has promised to “bang the drum for Britain” as Foreign Secretary and wants the UK to be “patriotic and positive”.
Ms Truss, promoted in Boris Johnson’s frontbench reshuffle last month, told the conference yesterday: “We will build a more competitive, more confident Britain.”
She said deeper trade links meant more jobs in UK industries, from Scotch whisky to car manufacturing and new technology.
Ms Truss added she expected the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with the US and Australia “will make Britain safer and create hundreds of skilled jobs, from the shipyards of Govan to the factories of Tyneside”.
She said: “Our new cleaner, greener investment into developing countries will mean more jobs for British architects, engineers and technologists.
“This is the work I will be doing as Foreign Secretary – banging the drum for Britain abroad to deliver for people here at home.” And Ms Truss, 46, declared a US trade deal was not the “be all and end all” because other countries were lining up to reach agreements.
Highlighting the Pacific trade bloc, Israel, India and the Gulf states as possible partners, she said: “We are a great country, a successful, modern, liberal, free enterprise country that time and time again has stood up to despots and tyrants.
“I reject the voices of decline. I believe that Britain’s best days are ahead of us.”
Ms Truss said people were “fed up with the talk of decline and the sneering about our place in the world”. She added: “Britain has always been at its best as an outward-looking, optimistic nation, confident in its ability to compete and lead.
“This is Britain I want us to be – patriotic and positive. People want to feel proud of their country and their local area.
“They want to see Britain doing well on the international stage.”