Britain’s foreign secretary and favorite to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister Liz Truss said in an interview with The Sun newspaper on Sunday that the possibility of an economic recession is not inevitable.
“We hear a lot that there will be a recession,” Truss said. “I don’t think it is inevitable (…) we can create opportunities here in the UK,” the minister and a favorite of the Conservative leadership emphasized.
Faced with former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, Truss disagrees with him in particular on how to act in a particularly tense economic and social context, with inflation above 10% and strikes in many sectors.
The foreign minister promised to cut taxes immediately, rather than provide direct financial aid to the population groups most affected by inflation, which drew criticism from Sunak and his allies.
In this conflict, Sunak received the support of Michael Gove, a prominent British Conservative figure who held various ministerial positions.
This Saturday, Geoff accused Truss of living “away from reality” with his proposals to tackle the effects of inflation.
“I am deeply concerned that for many the tone of the leadership debate has been disconnected from reality,” Goff wrote in an article published in The Times on Saturday.
Gove, who served 11 years in the government under three ministers, added that “the response to the crisis caused by the high cost of living cannot be limited to the refusal of more financial aid and tax cuts.”
According to him, the tax cuts proposed by Truss “will benefit the rich” and large companies, to the detriment of small and riskier entrepreneurs.
Britain’s Conservative Party hardliners, who number about 200,000, have until September 2 to elect their new leader in a mail vote. The result will be announced on September 5th.
Since the party has a parliamentary majority, the winner will take command of the executive branch and succeed Johnson, who resigned at the beginning of July besieged by several scandals and internal rebellion.
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