Political positions of Liz Truss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
Foreign Secretary Ministry and term Post-premiership |
||
.jpg)
Liz Truss is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. The shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom, she has received attention for her political positions, most notably on economics.
Truss is known for her economically liberal views and her support for free trade.[1] She supports the neoliberal philosophy of supply-side economics, often referred to derogatorily as "trickle-down economics".[2][3][4] She founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, a pro-free market collection of parliamentarians arguing for a more entrepreneurial economy and fewer employment laws.[5]
Trussonomics (a portmanteau of "Truss" and "economics")[6] are the neoliberal[citation needed] economic policies advocated by Liz Truss and the Free Enterprise Group, a group of Thatcherite-leaning Conservative Party MPs founded by Truss in mid-2011. The policies are based upon the principle of reducing the overall tax burden, as part of a model intended to create a high-growth, free-market economy.[6][7][8]
The policies of Trussonomics involve extensive tax cuts in addition to reducing government regulation and repealing employment laws in order to attract businesses, encourage entrepreneurship, and grow the economy. Proponents of Trussonomics argue that lower taxes would pay for themselves by encouraging economic growth, a theory known as supply-side economics or trickle-down economics. The tax cuts proposed in the Truss–Kwarteng mini-budget were therefore to be funded by borrowing. The proponents' expectations were that, kick-started by a temporary scheme of lending, tax revenue would eventually increase due to growth in the economy, relieving the need for amassing debt from the tax-cutting measures. Trussonomics was influenced by the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, known as Reaganomics, and of Nigel Lawson, the second Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher.[9]
These policies were implemented during the premiership of Liz Truss through the September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng, which aimed to counter a downturn in the economy of the United Kingdom and the cost of living crisis caused by factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. The markets reacted badly to the plan, with sterling and government bonds dropping significantly in response to a large increase in government borrowing. The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, the International Monetary Fund and US president Joe Biden were among those who criticised the plan, Biden saying "I wasn't the only one who thought it was a mistake". Although Truss tried to push through her agenda in full, she and Kwarteng ended up repealing many policies.[10][11] On Friday, 14 October 2022, Truss dismissed Kwarteng after 38 days in office, replacing him with Jeremy Hunt. This led Faisal Islam of the BBC to write that Trussonomics was "effectively dead".[12]
Truss's policies were hailed by proponents of supply-side economics,[13] who blamed the financial markets for its failure in practice.[14][15][16] Other voices have criticised the ideas from the outset,[17] as well as subsequently.[18]
Foreign policy
Truss was described as a hawkish foreign secretary.[19] She has called for Britain to reduce economic dependency on China and Russia and has supported certain diplomatic and economic sanctions imposed by the British government against China, including barring the Chinese ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang from entering Parliament, in response to China's retaliatory sanctions due to Xinjiang.[20][21] She accused Rishi Sunak of "seeking closer economic relations" with China.[22] Truss has been a strong supporter of Taiwan in the context of deteriorating cross strait relations, but, citing precedent, has said she would not visit the island nation if she was elected prime minister.[23][24][25] She described the Chinese government's treatment of the Uyghur people as "genocide".[26][27]
She stated that the UK and Turkey are "key European NATO allies" and called for UK–Turkey cooperation on "energy, defence and security" to be deepened.[28] Truss said she would continue to support Cyprus in its "efforts for reunification under international law and in helping find a peaceful and lasting solution" to the Cyprus conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish-backed Turkish Cypriot separatists.[29]
In 2022 she called Saudi Arabia an "ally", but said she was not "condoning" the country's policies.[30][31] Truss promised to "review" moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.[32]
Brexit
Truss supported the United Kingdom's remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum.[33]
Since the referendum, Truss has supported Brexit; in 2017, she said that if another referendum were held, she would vote for Brexit, saying: "I believed there would be massive economic problems but those haven't come to pass and I've also seen the opportunities."[34] In the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, Truss said of her support for Remain that "I was wrong and I am prepared to admit I was wrong".[35] She added that "some of the portents of doom didn't happen and instead we have actually unleashed new opportunities" after Brexit.[35] Her support of Brexit during these debates made her popular with the Conservative party members who selected her as prime minister during this leadership election.[36]
_(cropped).jpg)
2.jpg)