London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 18, 2026

Liz Truss: The prime minister's claims about the economy fact-checked

Liz Truss: The prime minister's claims about the economy fact-checked

Prime Minister Liz Truss has defended her government's mini-budget, despite the days of market turmoil that followed it which saw a rise in the cost of government borrowing that has had an impact on mortgages and other parts of the economy.

She told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg programme that she stood by it but said the government should have "laid the ground better" before announcing the measures, which included tax cuts paid for by billions of pounds of borrowing.

Here are some of the claims Ms Truss made in the interview.

'This is a global problem, we've got Putin's war in Ukraine, the aftermath of Covid and what is happening around the world is that interest rates are rising'


The prime minister said this after being asked whether she felt any responsibility for people's worries about their mortgages, rents and loans.

She's right that interest rates are rising around the world as central banks, like the Bank of England, raise them to fight the inflation that has been made worse by the war in Ukraine.

But the cost of UK government borrowing surged to over 4% after the government's mini-budget on 23 September.


As BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam has pointed out on Twitter, this lifted the cost of borrowing in the UK above that in Greece.

This rise was not set by the Bank of England - but by the bond markets reacting to the measures in the mini-budget - and it is feeding through into rising mortgage rates with hundreds of products withdrawn from the mortgage market.

It also had an impact on UK pension funds - which trade in government debt (30-year bonds) - with the Bank of England having to step in to safeguard the sector with a £65bn support scheme.

Speaking on 29 September, the Bank of England's Chief Economist Huw Pill said that over the course of the past week: "There has been a significant re-pricing of financial assets. Part of that... reflects broader global developments... But there is undoubtedly a UK-specific component."


'We've had two decades of relatively low growth'


The UK's growth has been low in the past decade, and the decline started before the Covid pandemic.

The UK economy grew at an average rate of 2.3% between 1982 and 1992 and 2.6% between 1993 and 2002.

In the past two decades, the economy has grown by an average of 1.4% each year. But it has been affected by two major global crises - the financial crash of 2008 and the Covid pandemic that started in 2020.

Even if you exclude these, growth in the last ten years has not matched previous decades.

The UK saw an average growth rate of 2.5% between 2002 and 2007 (before the financial crash of 2008-09). In the years after the crash and before Covid - 2010 to 2019 - it grew at a rate of 2%.

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have said their goal is to secure steady growth for the UK of 2.5% a year.


'The issue with the OBR is it does take a while to produce those forecasts... we simply didn't have time to go through that process'


The prime minister was asked why the mini-budget had not been accompanied by a forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) - the independent number crunchers who usually mark the government's economic homework.

Market commentators have suggested that its absence contributed to the turmoil over the following days.

Ms Truss claims the government didn't have time to wait for the OBR to produce its forecast.

However, the OBR says it could have done it in time.

In a letter on 29 September, Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, said a draft forecast was sent to the new Chancellor - Kwasi Kwarteng - on 6 September, his first day in the office.

The OBR then offered to provide an updated forecast to be published along with the 23 September mini-budget, but was not commissioned by the government to do so, "although we would have been in a position to do so to a standard that satisfied the legal requirements of the Charter for Budget Responsibility enacted by Parliament", Mr Hughes wrote.

'We have the second lowest borrowing in the G7'


If you look at the government's total debt as a percentage of the size of the economy, this claim is correct.

As of December 2021, the UK had a lower proportion of debt than Canada, France, the US, Italy and Japan, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).


Adding the extra borrowing needed this year to fund the measures announced in the mini budget would not lift the UK above the next highest nation.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth Confirms Constitutional Discussions Over Welsh Independence During Initial Bilateral Call with Prime Minister
Labour Party Instructs Local Council Groups to Sever Power-Sharing Accords with Green Party Over New Controversial Policy Positions
Institute for Fiscal Studies Warns of Thirty-Five Billion Pound Fiscal Gap Ahead of Chancellor John Healey Upcoming Autumn Budget
House of Lords Backs Landmark Legislative Amendment to Decriminalize Abortion Across England and Wales
United Kingdom Defence Secretary Wes Streeting Travels to Pentagon for High-Level Strategic Talks Amid Escalating Tensions Over Ukraine and United States Policy Shifts
Bank of England and International Monetary Fund Officials Issue Urgent Warnings Regarding Potential Artificial Intelligence Financial Market Shocks
Reform UK Faces Severe Political Fallout and Scrutiny After Undercover Media Investigations Reveal Systemic Racism Among Candidates
Former Democratic Unionist Party Leader Jeffrey Donaldson Sentenced to Fifteen Years in Prison Following Landmark Child Sexual Abuse Trial
House of Lords Votes to Amend Schools Bill Implementing Comprehensive Social Media Ban for Children Under Sixteen Years of Age
International Monetary Fund Upgrades United Kingdom Growth Forecast for Two Thousand Twenty-Six While Warning of Energy-Driven Inflation Pressures
Competition and Markets Authority Launches Formal Inquiry Into Corporate Artificial Intelligence Partnerships
Automotive Industry Leaders Urge Westminster to Accelerate Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Rollout
Home Office Expands Digital Border Security Framework With Mandatory Electronic Travel Authorizations Across United Kingdom
Northern Ireland Executive Reaches Final Consensus on Public Sector Pay Reform and Budget Allocations
Welsh First Minister Secures Additional Funding for Rural Agricultural Transition and Sustainable Farming Schemes
Scottish Government Unveils Accelerated Regional Infrastructure Strategy to Boost Clean Energy Manufacturing
National Health Service England Launches Emergency Recruitment Drive to Alleviate Severe Acute Care Winter Backlogs
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Signals Cautious Approach to Interest Rate Reductions Amid Persistent Wage Growth
British Government Finalizes Emergency Energy Support Package to Protect Households From Winter Price Surges
Russell Brand Trial Begins at Southwark Crown Court
UK Parliament to Debate Climate Risks and Council Tax Following Public Petitions
Department for Transport Demands Safety Audits Following Regional Rail Disruptions
House of Lords Scrutinizes Amendments to Armed Forces Bill
Devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales Criticize Post-Brexit Funding Framework
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Defends Middle East Military Support Under Parliamentary Scrutiny
NHS Leaders Warn of Severe Pressure on Hospitals from Winter Virus Outbreaks
Retailers and Business Groups Lobby Chancellor for Relief from Rising Employment Taxes
City of London Taskforce Urges Radical Reform to Prevent UK From Becoming "Incubator Nation"
Bank of England Officials Signal Potential November Interest Rate Hike
Institute for Fiscal Studies Warns of £35 Billion Funding Gap in Upcoming Autumn Budget
IMF Upgrades UK Growth Forecast to 1.3% for 2026
Former UUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sentenced to 15 years in prison for historical child sex offences
UK ministers adopt independent commission blueprint to fast-track AI in the NHS
Labour leadership orders local councillors to end power-sharing deals with Green Party
UK government considers regulatory intervention in proposed Sky and ITV merger
Environment Agency declares severe drought across six English regions as reservoirs hit critical lows
NHS England issues new guidance prohibiting transgender women from female-only wards
Norwegian teenager sentenced to 20 years for part of Iran-backed assassination plot in Britain
UK government threatens complete visa ban on Eritrea over refusal to accept deportees
UK Treasury lobbies UBS to move global headquarters to London amid banking sector tax threats
MI5 Warns of Growing Russian Sabotage and Espionage Threats Across Britain
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham Plans Brussels Talks to Renegotiate Post-Brexit Trade Deal
MI5 Warns of Rising Russian and Iranian Sabotage Threats to British Military Facilities
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham Pledges Closer EU Ties as MI5 Reveals Russian Brexit Interference
UK Orders Security Review Following Reported Killing of Former Politician Ann Widdecombe
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham Meets German Chancellor Merz to Strengthen European Security Ties
Nearly 100,000 NHS Patients Treated in Hospital Corridors as England Braces for Winter Pressures
UK Government Rejects US-Russia Diesel Agreement and Reaffirms Sanctions Against Moscow
UK and Germany Agree to Deepen Security and Economic Cooperation Following Berlin Talks
British Prime Minister Burnham Pledges Closer EU Ties During Visit to Germany
×