Jacob Rees-Mogg explains why he endorsed Liz Truss

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

The Foreign Secretary insists she is the only candidate to speak out against tax rises from the start rather than the “Johnny-come-lately” converts now pledging massive cuts.

She will give a campaign speech today (Thursday) vowing to level up Britain in a “Conservative way” and make the country an “aspiration nation.”

Allies said she is the only candidate who has always pushed a low tax free market agenda. Ms Truss addressed the 92 group of Tory MPs as the candidates continued to make their pitches to win over support.

A source present at the meeting said she told them: “My number one goal is getting our economy going and addressing the cost of living crisis. 

“We need bold action, we can’t have business-as-usual on the economy. I have a plan to deliver from day one as Prime Minister.“

An ally of Ms Truss said: “Liz is a longstanding low tax, free marketeer Conservative. None of the other candidates can say that, although some are trying to rewrite history to claim it. She has the only credible plan for the economy. Liz is the change candidate.”

Ms Truss will reveal the personal motivations behind her mission for No 10, telling how as a child she saw other youngsters being failed by a culture of low expectations. And the longest serving Cabinet minister, she will insist she is the candidate with the experience to get to work immediately.

“I am ready to be Prime Minister on day one. I can lead, make tough decisions and rise to the moment, she will say. The British people are crying out for a united and modern Conservative Government ready with the courage of its convictions to deliver on its promises.”

Ms Truss will give a speech setting out a plan to support families and hard pressed workers by reversing the National Insurance rate rise. She will pledge to lower the tax burden on business and deliver reforms to make the economy more productive and efficient.

Ms Truss will say: “My mission is to make our country an aspiration nation, where every child, every person has the best opportunity to succeed. I have a plan to make Britain a high-growth economy through bold supply-side reform.”

The Foreign Secretary will talk about her childhood in Scotland and Yorkshire shaped her political philosophy. I grew up in Paisley and went to comprehensive school in Leeds. I saw children who failed and were let down by low expectations,” she said.

“They will never be let down again on my watch. Everyone in our great country should be born with the same opportunities and be able to know that the town they are born in has opportunity. 

“My mission in politics is to give every child, every person, the best opportunity to succeed, and for their success in life to depend solely on their hard work and talents, not their background or where they are from.”

Critics of Ms Truss point to her support for the Remain campaign during the 2016 referendum. But allies, including leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, insist she is a “stronger Brexiteer than either of us.”

Ms Truss addressed the issue in the Spectator magazine, saying: “If I could vote now, I would vote to leave the European Union. I was a reluctant Remainer. I was loyal to the prime minister at the time, David Cameron, but since the referendum I’ve put my shoulder to the wheel in terms of delivering the opportunities of Brexit. 

“As trade secretary I negotiated a lot of trade deals, and we went much further than the European Union was ever prepared to in our deal with Australia.”

She also made a clear distinction between her approach to taxes and the candidates she is competing with.

“I opposed these tax rises from the start and I spoke out against the tax rises at the time,” she said.

“So I’m not a Johnny-come-lately to this agenda. I’m a low-tax Conservative. I believe that the right thing for us, in the very difficult global economic situation we face, is to not be raising taxes.”

She said the covid pandemic was a one-off crisis and the debt accumulated as a result of that should be treated like a war debt.

“I don’t agree with the Treasury orthodoxy of immediately seeking to pay that back and balance the books and damage economic growth,” she said.

The Foreign Secretary also vowed to temporarily shelve the Green Energy Levy to enable businesses and industry to thrive while looking at the best way of delivering net zero.

She added: “We need to focus government on what we need to do, rather than trying to do everything. I spent two years at the Treasury as chief secretary, I’ve got experience of spending control.”

Source: Read Full Article