Western Morning News (Saturday)
Liz Truss needs to make her mark
The new PM’S first 100 days has been knocked off-course by the death of the Queen. Ian L Handford, a former business leader, looks at the task ahead for Liz Truss, as she tries to carve out a successful premiership
IN January 27th 2020, after his election victory in December, Boris Johnson took as the theme of his first 100 days the people’s Government. It mirrored to some extent David Cameron’s theme of the big society. Sadly, both concepts fell by the wayside quite quickly.
We now have a new Prime Minister in Liz Truss and while her first job has been to help the nation come to terms with the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, she now seeks to make her mark. It will be interesting to now learn if she formally adopts a theme.
She was lucky enough to be appointed by the Queen in one of Her Majesty’s last acts before her death at the age of 96. But in her campaign for the Conservative Party leadership Ms Truss differed from her rival Rishi Sunak in presenting an upbeat view of the future, despite the obvious challenges of rising inflation, the cost of living crisis and soaring energy costs. It may be that she wants to take as her theme, aspiration nation – putting a positive spin on the difficulties ahead.
Of course events can easily knock prime ministers’ plans off course. Boris Johnson was forced almost immediately into dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic spreading across the world. He himself fell victim to the virus and he and his then Chancellor had to bring in extraordinary support measures to prevent a complete collapse of society. His original plans had to be put on hold for almost two years.
Our new Prime Minister, like her predecessor will be immediately tasked with huge challenges not least the state of our economy and energy shortages, and also the war in Ukraine.
She will be aware that the first 100 days of office will be crucial in establishing her authority in the House of Commons and presenting Britain as an aspirational nation may well appeal to Ms Truss’s upbeat view of the country.
But “aspirational” signifies an expectance of better things ahead, so setting out first priorities is going to be really challenging – given the economic difficulties. The UK economy already has a national debt of some £2.3 trillion – that’s £2,300 billion – and our energy crisis threatens everyone’s lifestyle. Add in commitments already made, under the previous administration, to following a green agenda with an ambitious target to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and you have the potential for further difficulties.
When I was elected National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses in 1998 there was an expectation that I would have the plans and visions in place to help small businesses from the off.
Clearly there will be even greater expectations of the Prime Minister today. When Boris delivered that “Heal the Nation” speech promising a “Peoples Government” he had hoped to step up to the task of prosperity and growth while installing an administration that worked for all the people.
We knew at the time it was more a message of hope than reality. Our new Prime Minister in her first days in office has already announced she will cap energy bills at £2,500 for at least two years to the end of her Parliament which will protect millions of citizens. Meanwhile, business owners, charities, the public sector and schools will also get help with their energy costs but for a shorter period. On the subject of providing cheap energy in the future, Prime Minister Truss has promised to reverse the legislation that halted fracking for shale gas – she believes that could provide more home-produced energy for the UK, although not everyone backs the technology or the continued commitment to fossil fuels it implies.
Boris’s early promises were to unite and level up the whole of the UK. But as PM he made it clear he would not allow fracking to boost Britain’s energy supply. I am a longstanding support of fracking and said at the time I thought he was wrong. Now with Ms Truss lifting the moratorium experts are already confirming that within six months cheap shale gas will be flowing to our homes and businesses.
Winter is fast approaching and the energy crisis is going to be costly, both for households and for the government. But if fracking is supported by a local community the likelihood is that discounts of 25% of their energy costs can be saved – as occurs in America.
In the past new prime ministers have sought to change everything in public life, from the NHS to law and order, education, immigration, business taxes and research and development.
Boris stated that the Conservatives “must reform the country to save what’s best about it – our free market, our free speech and our fierce independence.” Few would argue with that – but Covid knocked things off course. Liz Truss has had to postpone her plan to hit the ground running, because of the sad death of the Queen. But she will still need to make her mark – and soon.
Monday: Don’t miss our eight-page review of a remarkable week as Britain marked the Queen’s death