North East Labour MPs accused Liz Truss of being just as responsible for the UK’s economic chaos as Kwasi Kwarteng, after the Chancellor was sacked.
The Prime Minister vowed not to quit her job on Friday afternoon, pledging to “see through what I have promised” after removing Mr Kwarteng and announcing another major U-turn. Ms Truss admitted that parts of the mini-budget last month went “further and faster” than markets had expected, as she reversed plans to scrap a rise in corporation tax.
But Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle Central, warned that replacing Mr Kwarteng in No 11 Downing Street with Jeremy Hunt “won't undo the damage done” by the turmoil of recent weeks. She added: “We don't just need a change in Chancellor, we need a change in government.”
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Jarrow MP Kate Osborne said the Prime Minister “cannot escape that it was her leadership that crashed the economy and made the cost-of-living crisis even worse”, while Newcastle North’s Catherine McKinnell fears that impact of the tax-cutting mini-budget “will be paid for by households for years to come”.
Ms McKinnell said: “Rearranging the chairs on the sinking ship isn’t going to work. On Monday, I’ll be putting forward the demand from nearly 600,000 petitioners for a General Election to let the people have their say. In the national interest, the Government should listen and let the people decide who they want to lead the country.”
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Ms Truss was asked why she had not resigned and insisted she was “absolutely determined to see through what I have promised”. Confirming that a rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% would now go ahead, she said: “It is clear that parts of our mini-budget went further and faster than markets were expecting so the way we are delivering our mission right now has to change.”
North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll said that the chaos in government had left local leaders “swimming upstream” in efforts to support the region’s economy. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is causing people's mortgages to rise, it is causing the pound to slide, it is making the whole economic situation untenable. I don't just think it is the Chancellor, though, we need a government that is going to prioritise a stable economy for working people and not doubling bankers bonuses."
Labour’s Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, added: “This is a government in chaos, but it’s the rest of us who suffer the results. We saw a tax cut for those at the top, a mortgage crisis hit millions and no help for those being pushed in to poverty.
"Our public services have already suffered years of austerity and Tory cuts. What we need now is a Prime Minister who can get a grip, a Prime Minister who is prepared to back councils and frontline services to support the families suffering as a result of this chaos.”
The LDRS did contact a number of Conservative MPs and councillors for a comment. Levelling Up Secretary and Middlesbrough MP Simon Clarke tweeted that Ms Truss “ has my support”.
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