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Britain’s political chaos coincides with economic woes.
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on October 19, when responding to calls made by opposition MPs to resign, that she is “a fighter and not a quitter”, adding: “I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.” However, she is also facing pressure from her own party to step down.
Truss is trying to reassert her authority over the restive ranks of the Conservative Party amid increased calls for her resignation. The British Prime Minister, who only took the position after the resignation of Boris Johnson in September, is trying to rally support within the party after she was forced to abandon a sweeping tax-cutting plan, prompting some conservative lawmakers to call for her ouster just weeks after she took office.
She admitted her radical economic plans had gone too far too fast after investors turned their backs on the pound and government bonds. But with interest rates rising and official figures showing inflation is at its highest in 40 years, Truss, who was elected by Conservative Party members on a promise to cut taxes and maintain public spending, faces a struggle to convince the public and her party that she can deliver results despite the economic crisis.
Public opinion polls show that the Conservatives are about thirty points behind the Labor Party, and its ratings, as reported by the media, are catastrophic.
“I have been very clear that I am sorry and that I have made mistakes,” Truss told opposition MPs while answering questions in parliament. “I am somebody who’s prepared to front up. I’m prepared to take the tough decisions.”
Speculation about the prime minister’s future continues and media reports suggest that rebellious conservatives are weighing up on who should replace her. As she was questioned about her economic policy U-turns, Conservative MPs appeared visibly uncomfortable.
“I think her position is becoming increasingly untenable,” Conservative MP Steve Double told the Radio Times. “We’ve seen a complete reversal of just about everything she stood for in her leadership election campaign.”
“I think many of us are asking exactly what does Liz Truss now believe and stand for because she seems to have abandoned virtually everything that she told us she was about. I think she is absolutely the last chance saloon,” he added.
Truss also faced derision from Labor leader Keir Starmer because her new book about her tenure is due out by Christmas.
“Is that the release date or the title?” he asked. He later said she asked him questions about Labor policy because the current opposition is a “government in waiting”.
Truss and her new finance minister Jeremy Hunt, the fourth in line in as many months, are desperately trying to balance the finances after her scrapped economic program shook investor confidence. They are also trying to avoid opposition from Conservative MPs and the loss of further public support.
Truss told MPs that she is committed to increasing state pensions in line with inflation after ministers refused for days to guarantee that this would be the case, provoking a lot of criticism. But she refused to say the same about social assistance and foreign aid.
Conservative politicians, responsible for enforcing party discipline among MPs, sent a message saying the vote would be treated as a vote of confidence in the government. Commentators say that a victory in this vote could allow her and her supporters to say that the party has confidence in her leadership position.
However, polls show that as many as 90 percent of British citizens demand the removal of the Prime Minister due to the economic chaos caused by the mini-budget of former finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng.
The decline of the Conservatives comes as the EY Item Club predicted in its autumn forecast that the UK will be in a recession until summer 2023 as its economy is expected to shrink by around 0.2 per cent each quarter from October through to June next year. The economic forecasting group significantly downgraded its previous summer forecast which estimated the economy would grow by 1 per cent in 2023.
According to the group, a combination of high energy prices, surging inflation, rising interest rates and global economic weakness have driven up the likelihood that the UK will be in recession until the middle of next year.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs predicts more trouble for Liz Truss as analysts downgraded Britain’s economic outlook after Kwasi Kwarteng was removed and the prime minister reversed a freeze in corporation tax, Bloomberg News reported.
“Folding in weaker growth momentum, significantly tighter financial conditions, and the higher corporation tax from next April, we downgrade our UK growth outlook further and now expect a more significant recession,” Bloomberg cited the investment bank’s report as saying.
In this way, the political chaos and economic crisis are compounding Britain’s struggles. It also comes as violent crime in Britain is increasing and its former colony India overtook it in the rankings of the world’s largest economies.
This is what happens when ‘D’ list politicians on the Westminster Gravy Train are ordained by the puppet masters’
Chaos is precisely what the global government want.