An unrepentant Liz Truss has delivered her final speech at No 10 after just 49 days in office, urging her successor Rishi Sunak not to ditch her dream of low taxes and growth.
In a short speech, the outgoing prime minister stuck to the message of her premiership – before being driven away from No 10.
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth,” she told her party.
Ms Truss also said she would remain in parliament, saying she is looking forward to “continuing to serve southwest Norfolk from the backbenches”.
There was no contrition for the blunders during her short time in power – which have pushed up mortgage rates and set the UK on course for a return to austerity.
Instead, echoing Boris Johnson, Ms Truss quoted an ancient philosopher to ram home her credo that politicians should think the unthinkable.
“As the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, ‘It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that they are difficult’,” she said.
Ms Truss has been forced out after just seven weeks in power – making her the shortest-serving prime minister in history – after her disastrous min-budget crashed the economy and shredded public trust.
Mr Sunak takes over with the majority of Tory MPs eager to unite around yet another new leader. However, they face the poisoned inheritance of needing to announce huge spending cuts within days.
The former chancellor is under fire for failing to set out his blueprint, after an awkward 83-second speech when he won the Tory leadership on Monday when he took no questions.
At Buckingham Palace, the outgoing prime minister will resign formally to the King, who, shortly afterwards, will invite Mr Sunak to form the next government.
In her three-minute speech, Ms Truss claimed she had acted “urgently and decisively” to head off huge hikes in energy bills, despite opposing action on the campaign trail in the summer.
“We helped millions of households with their energy bills and helped thousands of businesses avoid bankruptcy,” she argued.
“We are taking back our energy independence, so we are never again beholden to global market fluctuations or malign foreign powers.”
Ms Truss also stuck to her claim that the UK can “take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently”, despite the economic damage from leaving the EU.
“This means delivering more freedom for our own citizens and restoring power in democratic institutions,” she said.
“It means lower taxes, so people keep more of the money they earn. It means delivering growth that will lead to more job security, higher wages and greater opportunities for our children and grandchildren.”
The SNP criticised the outgoing prime minister for failing to apologise during her final speech.
“It beggars belief that Liz Truss couldn’t bring herself to apologise – or utter a single word of regret – for the catastrophic damage she has done to the UK economy,” said deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald.
