London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2025

Grant Shapps: Liz Truss's tax cuts were clearly the wrong approach

Grant Shapps: Liz Truss's tax cuts were clearly the wrong approach

Liz Truss's radical tax-cutting plan was "clearly" not the right approach, according to Grant Shapps, who briefly served in her short-lived government.

In a return to the political fray, Ms Truss wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that her economic agenda was never given a "realistic chance".

Business Secretary Mr Shapps said he agreed with Ms Truss on wanting lower taxes - but inflation must fall first.

"You can't just go straight to those tax cuts," he said.

In her 4,000-word essay, Ms Truss stood by her plans to boost economic growth, arguing they were brought down by "the left-wing economic establishment".

But she acknowledged she was not "blameless" for the unravelling of the mini-budget.

They are the first public comments the former PM has made on her resignation in October of last year.

Ms Truss resigned after she and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng introduced a £45bn package of tax cuts - including a cut to the top rate of income tax - which panicked the markets and alienated Tory MPs.

Mr Shapps was asked on BBC One's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show whether Ms Truss's approach had been the right one.

"Clearly it wasn't," he said.

He admitted that the UK's tax burden was currently "very high", and said he agreed with Ms Truss that Conservatives must be "making the good arguments" that a lower-tax economy can be successful in the long term.

But before the government cuts tax, it must first halve inflation, get "growth into the economy" and get debt "under control", he said.

Grant Shapps was home secretary under Liz Truss for her final six days in office

He tried to avoid addressing Truss's criticism that the Conservative Party had failed, for years, to make the case for free-market economics with low taxes and low regulation.

Mr Shapps said he took the role of home secretary in the final days of Ms Truss's government out of a sense of "national duty", and that by that point "we'd seen the impact on the markets".

He replaced Suella Braverman, who resigned over two data breaches. Six weeks earlier, as Ms Truss entered Downing Street, she had fired Mr Shapps as transport secretary, a role he held under the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Ms Truss's brief time in power - 49 days - made her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.

In her essay, Ms Truss said that while her experience last autumn was "bruising for me personally", she believed that over the medium term her policies would have increased growth and therefore brought down debt.

She argued that the government was made a "scapegoat" for developments that had been brewing for some time.

"Frankly, we were also pushing water uphill. Large parts of the media and the wider public sphere had become unfamiliar with key arguments about tax and economic policy and over time sentiment had shifted leftward," she wrote.

She also said she had not appreciated the strength of the resistance she would face to her plans - including plans to abolish the 45p top rate of income tax.

"I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was."

Mr Kwarteng dropped the 45p income tax proposals 10 days after they were announced, telling the BBC it was "a massive distraction on what was a strong package".

Less than a fortnight later, Ms Truss sacked Mr Kwarteng, something she said she was "deeply disturbed by". She described Mr Kwarteng in her essay as "an original thinker and a great advocate for Conservative ideas" - but that it was clear the tax proposals could not survive.

With the benefit of hindsight, she would have acted differently during her premiership, she wrote - but she still backs her plans for growth.

Sir Jake Berry, who was Conservative party chairman under Ms Truss, said he agreed with her assessment of the problems facing the UK economy, but "not necessarily the cure".

Speaking on the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show, he added that Ms Truss had been wrong to say the Conservatives had failed to make the argument for lower taxes.

Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Ms Truss's policies "made working people pay the price".

"The Conservatives crashed the economy, sank the pound, put pensions in peril and made working people pay the price through higher mortgages for years to come.

"After 13 years of low growth, squeezed wages and higher taxes under the Tories, only Labour offers the leadership and ideas to fix our economy and to get it growing."

While Ms Truss resigned as prime minister, she is still serving in parliament as the MP for South West Norfolk.


Watch: Liz Truss' approach 'clearly' not right - Shapps


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
×