London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 16, 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
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
×