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Liz Truss with disastrous poll numbers: Is it Labor's hour now?

2022-10-05T07:02:28.514Z


Boris Johnson's successor, Liz Truss, has one leg out after a disastrous four weeks in office. How is the British Prime Minister getting out of this? Assessments by SPIEGEL correspondent Jörg Schindler.


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Liz Truss visiting a construction site - is she learning how to repair her battered political image?

Barely four weeks in office, the British prime minister already has one leg out of the way: because her 45 billion-dollar "growth plan," which includes a reduction in the top tax rate, not only infuriated parts of the population at the end of September, but hers as well own party against them.

The reason: Truss and her Finance Minister Kwasi Kwaite have not explained how the sum should be financed.

Jörg Schindler, DER SPIEGEL / via video call from Birmingham, Great Britain

'The experts just did the math, and they said the Truss government's whole tax cut plan would benefit the rich for the most part.

While the poor are probably being fleeced again because the money has to come back in somehow and there's been talk here for a long time that there's going to be a austerity spree after we've had an austerity spree."

The British pound plummeted, even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported concerns.

Finally, Truss and Kwaite pull the emergency brake and collect the top tax rate adjustment.

Kwasi Kwarteng, British Treasury Secretary

»We talked to the people, we listened to the people.«

That's the wording used to explain the about-face - almost humble for a government that wants to follow in the tradition of Margaret Thatcher: clear announcements and tough.

Fewer and fewer people buy that in their own party.

Jörg Schindler, DER SPIEGEL / via video call from Birmingham, Great Britain

'One thing to be clear about is that Truss has had the least support within her parliamentary party of any Prime Minister.

That was just a third of the deputies who wanted it.

A larger part wanted Rishi Sunak, their competitor, and now it's the same that this party has seen: look, we just have to wave a little rebellion and then they'll give in."

The party is also in turmoil because of the disastrous recent poll numbers: According to them, the opposition Labor Party is even 33 percentage points ahead of the Tories.

Keir Starmer, Labor leader.

“People who thought they could get a mortgage last week suddenly can't this week.

Prices are going up - for what?'

Is this the hour of Labor and its leader Keir Starmer?

Jörg Schindler, DER SPIEGEL / via video call from Birmingham, Great Britain

"The Labor high is above all a Tories low, it's not that Labor is an incredibly well-oiled machine right now, with an incredibly charismatic man at the top, with great political killer instincts, it's that Labor just benefiting from the infinite weakness of the Tories.

And that doesn't have to be sustainable.

If Truss gets her act together, if the markets regain confidence in the madness Londoners are going through, the polls could very quickly go in the opposite direction.”

The Tories party conference in Birmingham ends on Wednesday.

There, Liz Truss will give a major speech, her first at such an event.

Bad luck for them: a train strike is announced on Wednesday, many delegates are likely to leave on Tuesday, and Truss threatens to speak in front of an empty hall.

Jörg Schindler, DER SPIEGEL

»That will then also produce images that she cannot like.

But she has no choice but to restore her reputation as the "Iron Lady" as quickly as possible.

Will you succeed?

Frankly, I have very, very serious doubts about that.”

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-10-05

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