Liz Truss says she takes ‘not very much’ blame for mini budget economic chaos
Sophie Wingate, Press Association Deputy Political Editor
Liz Truss has claimed it was not her 2022 mini budget “that went wrong” as she blamed the Bank of England for the ensuing economic turmoil and hit out at Treasury officials for failing to warn her of the risks.
Ms Truss was promoting her latest book – an attempt to justify her actions, which saw her ejected from No 10 after just 49 days in office after her £45 billion spree of unfunded tax cuts unleashed chaos in the financial markets.
“It wasn’t the mini budget that went wrong,” the former prime minister told Sky News on Tuesday.
“What there was was a spike in the gilt market. That’s what led to the chain of events that ultimately led to my resignation.”
Asked what responsibility she took for causing that spike in borrowing rates, Ms Truss replied: “Not very much is the answer.”
She said two-thirds of the spike was caused by liability driven investment (LDI) pension funds, which were hit by her and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget.
“That’s not including the Bank of England’s action, which was to start quantitative tightening the day before the mini budget.
“So my view is, even if we hadn’t done the mini budget, the combination of quantitative tightening and LDIs were the cause of what happened.”
She also said: “The vast majority of the responsibility lies with Bank of England, and they’ve got absolutely none of the flak for this.”
Ms Truss admitted in her book Bank Job she did not know about the LDI market or of the Bank of England’s plans to start its government bond selling programme, known as quantitative tightening.
Challenged over her lack of awareness of the central bank’s moves, Ms Truss argued prime ministers should not have to do their own research.
And she railed against civil servants who she said “did not raise any red flags at all” either over the quantitative tightening plans or the LDI issue.
She told the broadcaster: “The people who were in charge of co-ordinating fiscal and monetary policy did not tell us of these risks.
“And are you suggesting that as Prime Minister I should go online and do my own research?
“Surely in our system you’re meant to be able to rely on the Treasury to tell you about what the risks are of making a particular announcement at a particular time.”
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‘SILENCE!’
Tax cuts don’t work. Certainly not £45b worth!! She can blame who she wants at the end of the day, any cuts have to come at the expense of something – basic economics really.
She’s absolutely right. Blame the clueless prime minister who was prime minister when she was…. prime minister.
She signed it off. Her book also claims we would be on mars in a few years. We as in UK from UK rocket launch bases putting boots on the ground.
She is thick and the tory party put her in charge, remember ARTD fawning after her. He does that for any leader though.
Remember this?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/15/liz-truss-tweets-photo-of-her-and-trump-at-mar-a-lago
She needs help. Urgently.