Liz Truss Apologizes

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, has announced that she is apologizing but has no intention of resigning amidst calls for her dismissal. “I am staying because I was elected to work for the benefit of this country, and I intend to do that. I will lead the Conservative Party into the next general election. We are in very difficult times right now and we simply cannot afford to waste time on discussions rather than doing what we must. This is my message to my colleagues,” Truss stated in an interview with the BBC.

The British Prime Minister added that she does not shy away from responsibility for the “mistakes made” and wants to apologize. “I wanted to help people deal with energy bills, the issue of high taxes, but we have gone too far and too fast, and I accept that,” Truss added.

The British government under Truss has faced a backlash over a new economic support plan and concerns that the implementation of the plan will increase the level of public debt. The plan was introduced in Parliament by former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and involves a large-scale tax cut. Following his announcement, the yield on UK five-year government bonds surged to 4.6 percent, the highest level since 2008, indicating a decrease in demand for government debt. In connection with this, the exchange rate of the pound sharply declined, reaching a historic low of $1.054 per pound during bidding.

Due to the prevailing situation in the financial markets, on October 14, Truss announced an increase in corporate income tax from 19 to 25 percent, a proposal made by her predecessor Boris Johnson and previously canceled by Truss herself. The cancellation of the planned increase was one of the measures from the economic support plan and was expected to lead to more businesses investing in the UK economy. On October 14, Kwasi Kwarteng, the architect of the controversial plan, resigned from his position and was replaced by former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.