Liz Truss has stressed the need to be “bold” as she made her final speech as Prime Minister before power is handed over to new Tory leader Rishi Sunak.
After seven chaotic weeks as Prime Minister, Ms Truss spoke on Tuesday of the need to praise tax cuts and celebrate reversing the national insurance hike imposed by Mr Sunak when he was chancellor.
She warned that the nation continues to “battle through a storm” but insisted she believes that “brighter days lie ahead”.
Here is Liz Truss’ final speech as Prime Minister in full:
“It has been a huge honour to be Prime Minister of this great country.
“In particular to lead the nation in mourning the death of her late Majesty the Queen, after 70 years of service, and welcoming the accession of His Majesty King Charles III.
“In just a short period, this government has acted urgently and decisively on the side of hard working families and businesses.
“We reversed the National Insurance increase. We helped millions of households with their energy bills, and helped thousands of businesses avoid bankruptcy.
“We are taking back our energy independence so we are never again beholden to global market fluctuations, or malign foreign powers.
“From my time as prime minister, I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face.
“As the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, ‘It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it’s because we do not dare that they are difficult’.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country.”
“We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms, to do things differently.
“This means delivering more freedom for our own citizens, and restoring power to democratic institutions.
“It means lower taxes, so people can keep more of the money that they earn.
“And it means delivering growth that will lead to more job security, higher wages, and greater opportunities for our children and grandchildren.
“Democracies must be able to deliver for their own people. We must be able to outcompete autocratic regimes where power lies in the hands of a few.
“And now more than ever, we must support Ukraine in their brave fight against Putin’s aggression. Ukraine must prevail. And we must continue to strengthen our nation’s defences.
“That’s what I have been striving to achieve, and I wish Rishi Sunak every success for the good of our country.
“I want to thank Hugh, Frances, Liberty, my family and friends and all the team at number 10 for their love, friendship and support. I also want to thank my protection team.
“I look forward to spending more time in my constituency and continuing to serve southwest Norfolk from the back benches.
“Our country continues to battle through a storm. But I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people and I know that brighter days lie ahead. Thank you.”
