Monday 3 October 2022 04:21 PM Tory peer Lord Heseltine warns Liz Truss 'things are looking pretty bleak' ... trends now
Tory peer Lord Heseltine today warned Liz Truss 'things are looking pretty bleak' ahead of the next general election as he tore into her mini-Budget fiasco.
The former Cabinet minister told the Prime Minister that 'a very impressive feat of political leadership' would now be needed to keep the Conservatives in power.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Tory conference - just hours after Ms Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng revealed they had U-turned on a controversial bid to abolish the 45p tax rate - Lord Heseltine asked: 'What was the plan?'
He urged Mr Kwarteng to bring forward promised announcements on how his Treasury proposes to manage the public finances earlier than currently scheduled.
And, although he declined to answer questions on Ms Truss's future as Tory leader - or Mr Kwarteng's chances of remaining as Chancellor - the 89-year-old warned the PM of further woes to come.
Lord Heseltine claimed Ms Truss's legislation aimed at overturning post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland would be 'massacred' in the House of Lords next week.
Lord Heseltine told the Prime Minister that 'a very impressive feat of political leadership' would now be needed to keep the Conservatives in power
The Tory peer warned Liz Truss 'things are looking pretty bleak' ahead of the next general election as he tore into her mini-Budget fiasco
Lord Heseltine spoke just hours after Ms Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng revealed they had U-turned on a controversial bid to abolish the 45p tax rate
In a dramatic reversal of their position, Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng this morning confirmed they were ditching their plan to scrap the additional tax rate amid a backlash from growing numbers of Tory MPs and turmoil on financial markets.
They had previously hailed the proposal as part of their efforts to revive sluggish growth in Britain.
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