OUTGOING Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted “brighter days lie ahead” in her farewell speech as her tenure as the shortest-serving leader in British history came to an end.
Truss – who was in office for a mere 49 days in total – said she had helped millions of people with energy bills and pointed to reversing the National Insurance increase as one of her main achievements.
She quoted Roman philosopher Seneca in saying “it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that times are difficult” as she insisted it was time for the UK to be “bold".
She said: “From my time as prime minister, I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face.
READ MORE: Food prices skyrocket by up to 65% in one year, ONS data shows
“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country.”
She added the country must take advantage of its "Brexit freedoms" and support Ukraine in its "brave fight" against Russian aggression.
At the end of her speech, she wished incoming PM Rishi Sunak “every success for the good of our country”.
Truss held her final Cabinet meeting this morning before making the speech and will now travel to Buckingham Palace for her final audience with King Charles.
Once this is done, Sunak – the UK’s third leader in seven weeks - will meet the King and will be invited to form a government before making a speech at around 11.35am.
READ MORE: How popular is incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak - see the devastating graphs
Sunak will then name his Cabinet later on Tuesday, with Jeremy Hunt expected to hang on to his position as Chancellor. It is understood he is likely to offer leadership rival Penny Mordaunt a place in the Cabinet too.
Kirsten Oswald, the SNP's deputy Westminster leader, slammed Truss for failing to say sorry for her failures which have caused economic turmoil.
She said: "It beggars belief Liz Truss couldn’t bring herself to apologise - or utter a single word of regret - for the catastrophic damage she has done to the UK economy.
“Families are paying through their teeth for her mistakes as mortgage rates soar, pensions fall, energy bills rise, and inflation goes through the roof.
“Now we face devastating austerity cuts under Rishi Sunak - with families footing the bill for Tory failure.
“It’s clearer than ever that Scotland needs independence to escape Westminster control and get rid of Tory governments for good.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel