Good idea to trust Truss with monetary policies?
WHY BOTH CANDIDATES SHOULD HEED BANK OF ENGLAND’S WARNING
THE only transparent poll we have had so far was the one taken after leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss had been interviewed by Kay Burley on Sky News.
It’s a pity Sky’s computer system broke down, otherwise we would have had precise numbers. But a show of hands among an audience of mostly undecided Tory voters revealed that roughly 75 per cent backed Rishi after listening to both candidates.
This is why it would be wise for Truss step aside now rather than risk losing badly to Sir Keir Starmer at the next election.
Afterwards, Truss supporters alleged the audience was fixed in favour of Rishi. However, after the show of hands, Burley expressed surprise at the result.
Truss did seem embarrassed by Burley’s final question: “You were a Remainer, and now you’re not. You supported Brits to fight in Ukraine, then you didn’t. You wanted to build on the green belt and now you don’t.
“You wanted to abolish the monarchy and now you don’t. You wanted to arm Taiwan and now I’m not sure whether you’re saying you do or not. You wanted to cut civil servants pay in the regions and then you said you didn’t. “Will the real Liz Truss please stand up?” Speaking at hustings in Eastbourne, Rishi warned that unless inflation was brought under control, the Tory party could “kiss goodbye” to the chance of winning the next election.
In what appears to be a classic case of shooting the messenger, Truss’s supporters have rounded on Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England. He warned last week that inflation – currently at 9.4 per cent – could peak at more than 13 per cent and stay at “very elevated levels” throughout much of next year, before eventually returning to its two per cent target in 2024.
Although Bailey was careful not to back either candidate, his comments appear to be more in tune with what Rishi has been saying.
The most open criticism of Bailey came from the Goa-origin Suella Braverman, the current attorney general, in another example of “brown on brown” attacks.
Braverman told Sky News: “The interest rates should have been raised a long time ago, and the Bank of England has been too slow in this regard.”
Braverman said Truss would look at whether the bank was “fit for purpose in terms of its entire exclusionary independence over interest rates”.
A Financial Times reader wasn’t too impressed: “Asking Braverman to opine on monetary policy is like asking my two-year-old to explain string theory.”
I am sure Truss has many good qualities, but just at this critical juncture, the economy would be safer in Rishi’s hands. People’s livelihoods are at stake.