Truss apologises during stormy Commons session
LIZ Truss made a public apology in the Commons as she faced Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time since her economic plan was ditched by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
The Prime Minister told MPs: “I have been very clear that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes.”
On Monday, Mr Hunt reversed almost all of the tax cuts announced by his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in September as he sought to calm financial markets following weeks of turbulence.
Ms Truss told MPs: “The right thing to do in those circumstances is to make changes, which I have made, and to get on with the job and deliver for the British people.”
Shouts of “Resign” could be heard as she spoke.
The Prime Minister is battling to retain her position and has risked a fresh fight with Tory MPs by making a vote on a Labour motion on fracking a test of confidence in her administration.
She told MPs “I am a fighter, not a quitter” as she battled to save her job - echoing the 2001 declaration made by Labour grandee Peter Mandelson.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer mocked Ms Truss, saying: “What’s the point of a Prime Minister whose promises don’t even last a week?”
He added of a book which is being written about her: “Apparently it’s going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”
Ms Truss’s own MPs posed some of the most challenging questions on issues including fracking, social care, international aid spending and the benefits increase, in a sign that there was little appetite to rally round the beleaguered leader.
But the Foreign Secretary warned restless Tory colleagues against “defenestrating” another Prime Minister as he suggested a leadership contest would neither win the hearts of the British public nor calm the markets.
James Cleverly insisted “the plan is not to make mistakes” but “they do happen”.
But he said he is “far from convinced” of the benefits of another leadership campaign, cautioning against an “emotional response” from those “angry” about the current predicament.
Mr Cleverly told Sky News: “What I’m not convinced by - far, far from convinced by - is that going through another leadership campaign, defenestrating another Prime Minister, will either convince the British people that we’re thinking about them rather than ourselves, or convince the markets to stay calm and ensure things like those bond yields and gilt yields start coming back down.”