Tuesday, September 06, 2022
Storm clouds and no silver lining
Securing a smaller proportion of the vote amongst Tory Party members than Iain Duncan Smith is not a great start to a UK premiership but it is something that Liz Truss is going to have to deal with. However, as the Independent points out, she has very little time to turn things around.
The paper says that storm clouds are gathering over her premiership, as polls suggest voters are disappointed by her arrival in 10 Downing Street and have scant faith in her ability to resolve the cost of living crisis:
A former minister told The Independent they would “regret” joining an administration that would be “a replay of Boris 2019”.
Mr Sunak, who is not expected to feature in the new government, urged his supporters to “now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times”.
And MPs who backed his bid made it clear there would be no immediate revolt against the new PM, indicating they would give her a chance to make good on her “twin-track” approach of holding down energy bills in the short term while boosting supplies for the future.
An aide to the new Tory leader said she now accepted that a “sticking plaster” was needed immediately, but was insistent that the bailout approach “can’t continue ad infinitum”.
Her plan is still to be finalised, but it is thought it might involve loans to companies, to be paid back over many years as wholesale prices fall. It will be unveiled within seven days and possibly as early as Thursday, while Mr Kwarteng will set out wider plans for tax cuts in an emergency budget before parliament breaks for conference season on 23 September.
Kevin Hollinrake – who previously warned that Ms Truss’s focus on tax cuts rather than handouts would put low-income families “on the streets” – told The Independent that the new PM would not be given “a free pass” by Tory backbenchers.
“We’ve got a Conservative prime minister chosen by Conservative members – the default position is to support the prime minister,” he said. “Everyone knows if we are divided it is manna from heaven for the opposition.”
But he added: “On the backbenches your job is to scrutinise the government. We are not going to give her a free pass. We will be scrutinising her. We can’t have a situation where the people benefiting most from tax cuts are the rich and those hit hardest by energy prices are the poor.”
It is not just Tory MPs who are sceptical:
A YouGov survey of 2,500 voters found that half (50 per cent) – including a third (33 per cent) of 2019 Tory voters – were disappointed at her selection. Just one in seven (14 per cent) said they believed she would be a better PM than Mr Johnson and one in five (19 per cent) said they had confidence in her to tackle the cost of living.
A separate poll by Savanta ComRes found that just 18 per cent believed she could unite the country, against half (51 per cent) who thought she could not. Only 18 per cent had a favourable view of the new PM, just 10 per cent thought her party was united and 60 per cent said she should call an election by the end of the year.
Is Truss up to the challenge? We will see.
The paper says that storm clouds are gathering over her premiership, as polls suggest voters are disappointed by her arrival in 10 Downing Street and have scant faith in her ability to resolve the cost of living crisis:
A former minister told The Independent they would “regret” joining an administration that would be “a replay of Boris 2019”.
Mr Sunak, who is not expected to feature in the new government, urged his supporters to “now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times”.
And MPs who backed his bid made it clear there would be no immediate revolt against the new PM, indicating they would give her a chance to make good on her “twin-track” approach of holding down energy bills in the short term while boosting supplies for the future.
An aide to the new Tory leader said she now accepted that a “sticking plaster” was needed immediately, but was insistent that the bailout approach “can’t continue ad infinitum”.
Her plan is still to be finalised, but it is thought it might involve loans to companies, to be paid back over many years as wholesale prices fall. It will be unveiled within seven days and possibly as early as Thursday, while Mr Kwarteng will set out wider plans for tax cuts in an emergency budget before parliament breaks for conference season on 23 September.
Kevin Hollinrake – who previously warned that Ms Truss’s focus on tax cuts rather than handouts would put low-income families “on the streets” – told The Independent that the new PM would not be given “a free pass” by Tory backbenchers.
“We’ve got a Conservative prime minister chosen by Conservative members – the default position is to support the prime minister,” he said. “Everyone knows if we are divided it is manna from heaven for the opposition.”
But he added: “On the backbenches your job is to scrutinise the government. We are not going to give her a free pass. We will be scrutinising her. We can’t have a situation where the people benefiting most from tax cuts are the rich and those hit hardest by energy prices are the poor.”
It is not just Tory MPs who are sceptical:
A YouGov survey of 2,500 voters found that half (50 per cent) – including a third (33 per cent) of 2019 Tory voters – were disappointed at her selection. Just one in seven (14 per cent) said they believed she would be a better PM than Mr Johnson and one in five (19 per cent) said they had confidence in her to tackle the cost of living.
A separate poll by Savanta ComRes found that just 18 per cent believed she could unite the country, against half (51 per cent) who thought she could not. Only 18 per cent had a favourable view of the new PM, just 10 per cent thought her party was united and 60 per cent said she should call an election by the end of the year.
Is Truss up to the challenge? We will see.
