UK PM Liz Truss pressured to resign over financial crisis, government chaos
Truss fired Treasury Chief Kwasi Kwarteng Friday after their financial package backfired
UK's Liz Truss is 'toast, with a fresh spread of butter and a dollop of Marmite': Piers Morgan
'Piers Morgan Uncensored' host Piers Morgan says Prime Minister Liz Truss' budget and proposed tax cuts 'freaked the markets out,' and won't last 'the week.'
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss faced mounting pressure to resign on Thursday amid fallout from the newly-instated prime minister's fumbled economic package that triggered a financial crisis.
Truss and her Treasury Chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled an economic package in September that inadvertently precipitated economic turmoil. The plan authorized 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts, which decimated the value of the pound and increased the cost of the U.K.'s government borrowing.
The plan also wreaked havoc on financial markets. Truss fired Kwarteng on Friday. His replacement, Treasury Chief Jeremy Hunt, scrapped almost all Truss’ tax cuts on Monday, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts.
Hunt cautioned that the government will need to make "many difficult decisions" to save billions of pounds as he prepares to announce a medium-term fiscal plan Oct. 31.
UK'S LIZ TRUSS ABANDONS TAX CUTS, AXES FINANCE CHIEF
Prime Minister Liz Truss speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, Wednesday Oct. 19, 2022.
Truss apologized on Wednesday for the mishandled economic package, but claimed that she has "taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability."
A senior member of her government, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, resigned Wednesday after it was revealed that the appointee sent an official document from her personal email. In her resignation letter, she criticized Truss and said she was concerned about "the direction of this government."
"The business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes," Braverman said. "Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics."
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Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss attends a press conference in the Downing Street Briefing Room in central London on Oct. 14, 2022, following the sacking of the finance minister in response to a budget that sparked markets chaos. (Daniel Leal/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Truss faced an aggressive Parliament on Wednesday during a vote over shale gas fracking. Most Conservatives oppose the practice, while Truss wants to resume it.
Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant claimed that he saw "being physically manhandled ... and being bullied," while Conservatives denied that happened.
With opinion polls giving the Labour Party a large and growing lead, many Conservatives now believe their only hope of avoiding electoral oblivion is to replace Truss. However, the Conservative leader is firm that she will not resign.
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Traffic outside the Bank of England, in the financial district in the City of London, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. The U.K.'s new Treasury chief ripped up the government's economic plan on Monday, dramatically reversing most of the tax cuts and spending pl (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali / AP Images)
"I am a fighter and not a quitter," she said Wednesday.
Associated Press contributed to this report.