Liverpool, England
CNN
–
It was the first few weeks of Liz Truss as British Prime Minister determined by the crisis. She had barely been working for 48 hours when the news broke that Queen Elizabeth II diesputting the country into an official state of mourning and delaying the official launch of a Truss plan for Britain.
Once the official period of mourning ended last Monday, her government unleashed a wave of extremist policies, culminating on Friday with the announcement of 45 billion pounds ($48 billion) in tax cuts. The measures included eliminating the highest rate paid by higher-income earners, in adjustments that would benefit the rich far more than millions of people on lower incomes.
The logic, according to the Truss government, is that lowering taxes on individuals and businesses will lead to an investment boom and stimulate the British economy.
in Interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Truss last week defended her economic plans, saying her government “incentivizes companies to invest and we also help ordinary people with their taxes.”
UK PM defends tax cuts as pound falls
But Truss’ plans seemed to backfire almost immediately. The The pound fell to its lowest level In nearly four decades on Monday, it at one point reached near parity with the dollar. The Bank of England is very likely to raise interest rates, which will make repayment more difficult for those lucky enough to get mortgages, while those seeking mortgages already see products removed by banks.
On Wednesday, the Bank of England announced that He will buy British government bonds In an effort to “restore orderly market conditions” and to prevent “dysfunction” after the cuts, and the subsequent fall in the pound.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a rare rebuke to a developed country on Tuesday night, criticizing the UK’s tax cut plans, saying it would “likely increase inequality”.
The chaos could not have come at a better time than the official opposition Labor Party, which held its annual conference in Liverpool this week.
Entering the convention, Labor was enjoying large numbers in the polls not seen since the days of the last Labor prime minister to win a general election, Tony Blair.
Labor has struggled hard since losing power in 2010. The two former leaders of the party have struggled for their personal credibility on a range of issues, from the economy to security.
The party’s last leader, Jeremy Corbyn, came from the far left of the party. It has in the past been associated with well-known extremists, opposed NATO, was involved in programs with anti-Semitism and was generally present on the fringes of politics for decades.
When his successor, Keir Starmer, took office in 2020, he reasoned that his job was to remove Corbyn’s influence from the party and then hand him over to a new leader, perhaps closer to 2030 than the next general election scheduled for 2024.
But this week in Liverpool, Starmer’s party looked like a government-in-waiting. It’s nothing short of cool considering that even a year ago, Boris Johnson looked like undisputed champion British politics.
But after scandals deteriorating his premiership and Conservative approval, the humble Starmer, a soft-spoken lawyer with a smart haircut and unremarkable suits, really looks as if he could be the UK’s next prime minister.
Within two years of his leadership, Starmer was able to silence many elements of his party that Corbyn had attracted. It has gone from being home to far-left extremists to a party whose congress this week attracted corporate lobbyists who were too happy to fund events and ignored the potential next government.
And after years of accusations when Corbyn was in charge that Labor was anti-British, this year’s convention kicked off with delegates singing the national anthem.
Those around Starmer temper their optimism. Labor has cursed power before, but was disappointed when the next general election came. The United Kingdom, particularly England, has traditionally been a conservative voting country. Previous Labor governments won power largely due to Scottish support.
That has all but faded since the 2014 independence referendum, in which Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom by a margin of 55% to 45%. This left nearly half of Scots indignant and throw their support behind the pro-independence Scottish National Party.
Labor also has a form of non-coercive fouls. While this year’s conference went largely without a hitch, a crisis had to be dealt with in close proximity.
On Tuesday, a video emerged of a Labor MP calling the conservative finance minister, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarting, “ostensibly” Black. Representative Rupa Haq removed her party whip almost immediately, which means she was kicked out of the party and is now an independent member. right later chirp She apologized to Kwarting for comments she described as “poorly judged”.
And Labor members know that the Conservative Party plays the game of politics the most. The term “natural party of government” may sound strange, given the chaos that’s going on around Truss right now, but the Conservatives like to win at almost any cost.
However, none of this provides much comfort to Conservative MPs.
“Every problem we have now is a problem of our own making. We look like reckless gamblers who only care about people who can afford to lose their gambles,” a former Conservative minister told CNN on Wednesday morning.
Targeting the team surrounding Truss, which is largely made up of liberal conservatives, the former minister said: “We made the mistake of thinking that things that go well in free market think tanks align well with the free market.”
Despite all this not looking great for Truss, there is fear in Labor circles that the current ballot is a reflection of Conservative disapproval rather than enthusiasm for action. Many still question whether Starmer really has the power of character to win enough voters to comprehensively defeat the conservatives in the upcoming election.
This caution may be due to a reluctance to move forward. And their skepticism about Starmer could be the same reason some conservatives are quietly optimistic that Truss has more personal substance than her Labor rival and could simply beat him in the future.
What is undeniable is that expectations in British politics have changed this week. For the first time in years, the next election will undoubtedly lose Labor.
