UK still suffering from trauma of Liz Truss, says Treasury chief

620     0
UK still suffering from trauma of Liz Truss, says Treasury chief
UK still suffering from trauma of Liz Truss, says Treasury chief

Darren Jones says ‘we’ve all got PTSD’ after Truss’s 2022 mini-budget, amid market jitters after this week’s budget

The chief secretary to the Treasury has claimed the UK is still suffering from the trauma of Liz Truss’s economic mismanagement amid market jitters after this week’s budget.

Darren Jones insisted “we are in a very different world” from the market panic that followed Truss’s mini-budget two years ago, despite a slight rise in government borrowing costs and a drop in the value of the pound in the past 48 hours. 

“I think we’ve all got PTSD from Liz Truss,” Jones told Sky News.

He said: “Under Liz Truss they sacked the permanent secretary [to the Treasury], they ignored the independent Office Budget Responsibility, they announced £45bn of unfunded tax cuts and said they were only just getting started. And then the market went mad, and we all know what happened then.”

Jones added: “[It is] completely different in contrast to now. We’ve got verified reports from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility that say we meet our fiscal rules earlier than had been planned, that those tough fiscal rules means there is a fiscal consolidation and a strong approach to public spending.”

Asked about the market response to the budget, he said: “There’s a lot of new information about the economy and the nation’s finances presented to parliament, and it’s normal for markets to respond.”

But he added: “I understand why you asked the question, because everybody suffered as a consequence of the way the Conservatives managed the economy.”

Jones also defended the government paying £950 a day to a new value for money chair David Goldstone.

Asked by LBC about Goldstone’s salary as the head of the Office for Value for Money (OVFM), Jones said: “The rate of return for the improvements that we will make from looking at these areas of spending will be far, far greater.”

He added: “It is right that we pay people for their time. We can’t expect people to work for free. That is an important way in which we do things in this country. Actually, the day rate for David is, on a benchmark basis, competitive.”

Goldstone is also a non-executive director of the Submarine Delivery Agency and HS2 Ltd, and was previously chief executive of parliament’s Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority, as well as working as chief operating officer at the Ministry of Defence.

He oversaw the government’s £9.3bn investment for the 2012 Olympics, including the Olympic Park venues and infrastructure.

James Smith

Liz Truss, Darren Jones, Budget

Read more similar news:

01.02.2023, 12:00 • More
Piers Morgan to face off with Rishi Sunak as PM agrees to TalkTV interview
01.02.2023, 18:01 • Politics
Dominic Raab could resign to avoid investigation into bullying, accusers fear
02.02.2023, 15:12 • Politics
All the scandals and sackings from Rishi Sunak's first 100 days in No10
02.02.2023, 17:51 • Politics
Meet the Labour candidate hoping to oust Boris Johnson at the next election
03.02.2023, 17:08 • Politics
Rishi Sunak can't call an election as he knows he would lose, says Rachel Reeves
04.02.2023, 12:25 • Politics
Liz Truss has 'half a hope' she can make comeback and lead Tories in opposition
04.02.2023, 13:01 • More
David Tennant brands Tories ‘a team of f***wits’ in savage rant on Last Leg
04.02.2023, 17:20 • News
Blackpool hit by earthquake that sounded like rattling train as furniture shakes
04.02.2023, 17:23 • Politics
'Striking firefighters and ambulance workers get blamed for mess Tories caused'
04.02.2023, 18:48 • Politics
Nearly half of Tories want Election this year to sweep Rishi Sunak out of No10