FORMER Prime Minister Liz Truss should write to everyone in the UK with a mortgage and apologise for her actions while in office, Science Secretary Peter Kyle has said.
Asked by Camilla Tominey on GB News if the effects of Rachel Reeves’ budget were comparable to what happened under Truss, he said: “Every householder will know the difference. That letter that Liz Truss wrote to the Prime Minister asking for an apology should have been a letter that she wrote to every mortgage holder and householder in this country apologising for what she did.
“When you’ve seen what’s happened and the trends over the last week, they are mimicked by what’s happening in the US and elsewhere, we are in line. What Liz truss did was unique to our country here.
“Now, our plan for change, of course, involves fixing the fundamentals of the economy, which is what we saw in the budget. But crucially, if we’re going to break this desperate cycle that we’d inherited of high taxes and low growth, we have to start investing in the industries of the future.
“We’re doing that by house building. We’re doing that by investing in the energy sector for the future, and we are doing it now with the digital infrastructure, because digital infrastructure into the future will sit alongside electricity and water as the crucial vehicles for keeping people and our economy safe, keeping people and our economy growing.”
Pressed again on the economy, he said: “You’re basing what you’ve just said on Q3 figures, which were entirely the legacy of the previous administration. What you’ve illustrated is precisely what we are determined to break.
“Now what Rachel Reeves did in that budget was a budget for the future. It was a budget that fixed the foundations. Now we have also invested, we are investing in those high growth sectors of digital AI, health technology, climate technology, which we can then develop and sell around the world.
“We have increased our R&D budget as a country by 8.5%, we are laying the foundations for growth in the key areas of our economy that aren’t just rooted in the past, but will create sustainable jobs into the future, exciting jobs into the future.
“And just bear in mind that tomorrow, when we launch and the Prime Minister launches the AI action plan, it will have a whole raft of measures that will get our country facing the future and the investment you see in things like data centres. These aren’t distant things.”
Asked if it was appropriate for the Chancellor to travel to China, he said: “China is our fourth largest trading partner. China is an unignorable force on the world stage, so why on earth were the Tories imploring us to ignore them?
“We went over there. We engaged. We will engage on trade and yes, we also discussed human rights issues. This is what puts our national interest first.
“You do not deliver our national interest and also more investment into our country by sitting on the sidelines, which is what the Conservatives are imploring us to do.
“Yes, skills are leaving our country. A lot of them are going to America for the jobs that we are now striving to create.
“This is the thing that will create the wealth of the future. This is the thing that will get our country fit for the future and also have sustainable economic growth into the future.”
