Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has hit back at Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget, dismissing claims that her mini-Budget was responsible for current economic challenges.
Speaking to GB News, Truss labelled Reeves’s assertions as “errant nonsense”.
The former Prime Minister said: “Even the Bank of England has admitted in a report they put out this year that two-thirds of the market spike was down to their failure to regulate ODIs.
“The point is that I got blamed and Kwasi Kwarteng got blamed because of the entire economic establishment, and by that I mean the Bank of England, I mean the Office of Budget Responsibility, believe in these policies that generate low growth and stagnation.
“These people have been in charge for the last 25 years.
“Yes, Rachel Reeves is a disaster. This Budget is particularly bad. But let’s be honest, the direction of travel started a long time ago.
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“Higher taxes, higher regulation, more Government spending, very high energy costs, no fracking, net zero. These all happened under the Conservative Government.
“What she’s done is she’s pressed the accelerator on the economic doom loop. So we’re going to end up in a dire position much more quickly.
“Now, what I tried to do is turn that around. But what we found is we found massive opposition within the economic establishment themselves, who want to command the controlling heights of the economy.
“Also amongst that some Conservative MPs who were not prepared to take on the establishment.
“I believe that we’re only going to get back to a successful economy when we abolish the Office for Budget Responsibility and when we make the Bank of England properly accountable.
“I mean, look at their appalling record of inflation. They have not been held to account for that. But so the issue is not just that we have a socialist Labour chancellor.
“The issue is we have an entire economic infrastructure that operates against the working people of this country.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her first Budget on Wednesday, announcing significant tax hikes and increased NHS spending.
The Labour chancellor raised taxes by a record-breaking £40billion, citing a £22billion shortfall in public finances inherited from the previous Government.
Reeves announced an increase in the employers’ rate of National Insurance and changes to capital gains and inheritance taxes.
She also promised the “biggest increase in NHS capital spending since 2010”.
The Budget included a rise in the National Living Wage to £12.21 per hour for those aged 21 and over, benefiting over 3 million workers.
Reeves defended the tax increases, stating: “Any chancellor standing here today would face this reality. And any responsible chancellor would take action.”
