Moment Liz Truss appears in Commons after mystery absence
Liz Truss is no longer committed to increasing state pensions in line with soaring inflation as her new chancellor seeks to cut government spending in a departure from the prime minister’s failed growth strategy.
Downing Street indicated ministers could abandon the longstanding triple lock, which binds the government to increase pensions by whichever is highest – 2.5 per cent, wages or inflation.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that Boris Johnson is the favourite among Tory members to replace Ms Truss, with 32 per cent support.
More than half of members say the prime minister should resign as a result of the fallout from her disastrous mini-Budget, while 83 per cent said she was doing a bad job.
The feedback from the Savanta ResCom poll dealt another blow to Ms Truss’s waning authority, after several of her MPs questioned how long she could remain in office after being forced to abandon almost all of her tax-slashing economic programme.
Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor whom Ms Truss in the Tory leadership race last month was the second favourite among members, on 23 per cent, followed by Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, on 10 per cent.
