Liz Truss to admit economic plans will cause ‘disruption’ but insists ‘everyone will benefit’

PM to tell Tory conference ‘everyone will benefit’ despite trouble ahead

Liz Truss is set to admit her drive for economic growth will cause “disruption” though she will warn that continuing to “drift and delay” would be worse.

In her first Tory conference speech as leader, she will defend her “new approach” which she says will “unleash the full potential of our great country”.

But the prime minister will have a hard time lifting Tory spirits at a conference that started with an embarrassing U-turn on a pivotal tax policy and has seen rumbling cabinet dissent and the threat of another major party split over the level of benefits.

Ms Truss will tell the Birmingham audience she hopes to create a “new Britain for a new era” with an unashamedly pro-growth agenda.

She will repeat her intention to press forward against opposition despite having only two days earlier ditched a planned tax cut after a damning market reaction, which caused the pound to plummet.

The prime minister will say: “For too long, our economy has not grown as strongly as it should have done.

“For too long, the political debate has been dominated by how we distribute a limited economic pie. Instead, we need to grow the pie so that everyone gets a bigger slice.

“That is why I am determined to take a new approach and break us out of this high-tax, low-growth cycle. That is what our plan is about: getting our economy growing and rebuilding Britain through reform.”

Elements of Ms Truss’s plan were set out in Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget, a statement that led to market turbulence and an eventual U-turn over the plan to scrap the 45p rate of income tax for top earners.

Her critics say she is relying on the discredited ideology of “trickle-down” economics that will only widen inequality in society and fail to provide investment in the short term.

Truss and Kwarteng on a visit to a construction site in Birmingham on Tuesday (Getty)

But she will double down on her gamble in search of economic growth, arguing that it is the best route out of the current storm.

“The scale of the challenge is immense,” she will say.

“War in Europe for the first time in a generation. A more uncertain world in the aftermath of Covid. And a global economic crisis.

“That is why in Britain we need to do things differently.

“Whenever there is change, there is disruption. Not everyone will be in favour.

“But everyone will benefit from the result – a growing economy and a better future. That is what we have a clear plan to deliver.”

Alongside measures to boost growth, Ms Truss will insist she will keep an iron grip on the nation’s finances, with a leaner state offering value for taxpayers’ money.

She will say: “This is a great country. But I know that we can do better and we must do better.

“We have huge talent across the country. We’re not making enough of it. To deliver this, we need to get Britain moving. We cannot have any more drift and delay at this vital time.”