LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss on Wednesday rejected opposition calls for her resignation after her government’s dramatic U-turn on the budget and tax bill, but her position appears even more fragile after the resignation of his Minister of the Interior and the filing of a motion of no confidence.
Responding to a question from Labor leader Keir Starmer during a session in Parliament about why she remains in her post, Liz Truss said: “I am a fighter, not a quitter”.
“I acted in the national interest to ensure that we had economic stability,” she added.
“I made it very clear that I was sorry and that I had made mistakes,” she previously told MPs. “But the right thing to do in these circumstances is to make changes, which I did, and get back to work to deliver results for the British people.”
On the financial markets, shaken since the end of September by the unfunded budget announcements of the government of Liz Truss, which forced her to change finance minister, the pound sterling widened its losses after these declarations.
Speaking in the Commons for the first time since her budget volte-face, Liz Truss faced jeers and sarcasm, especially when she urged Labor to better grasp the country’s economic realities.
The attacks do not come only from Labor, however, since the Conservative MP William Wragg announced that he had submitted a motion of no confidence against Liz Truss, joining the chorus of those who have already called for her departure.
It is in this context that the Minister of the Interior, Suella Braverman, announced that she was leaving her post, without however making a link between her resignation and the situation of Liz Truss. Suella Braverman has indeed justified her departure by a “technical infraction” that she allegedly committed by using her personal email to send an official document.
Attacked from all sides, the Prime Minister will face a complicated vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening where she will have to defend her plan to reintroduce hydraulic fracturing as a means of extracting oil despite the hostility of public opinion. public and a large part of the members of Parliament.
(William James report, French version Marc Angrand and Nicolas Delame, edited by Tangi Salaün)