Liz Truss has refused to apologise for the surge in mortgage rates in recent years, caused as part of the banking crisis, fuelled largely by her disastrous mini-budget in October 2022.
Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister says she was ‘completely blindsided’ by the adverse impact the fiscal announcement would have on the mortgage market and wider UK economy.
In an interview with Sky News On Sunday yesterday, Truss who ousted from power by her own MPs after less than six weeks, said that “mortgage rates have gone up across the world”, and that she was therefore not responsible for what has happened here in the UK.
She said: “The issues that I faced in office were issues of not being able to deliver the agenda I’d set out because of a deep resistance within the British economic establishment.
“I think it’s wrong to suggest that I’m responsible for British people paying higher mortgages.
“That is something that has happened in every country in the free world.”
Defending her economic record, she again criticised the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.
She said: “I faced real resistance and actions by the Bank of England that undermined my policy and created the problems in the markets.”
Earlier in the week, Truss called for Bailey to be removed from his position and demanded a “proper investigation” into the central bank’s response to her 2022 mini-budget.
Despite her criticism of the Bank chief, Truss confirmed yesterday she never met Bailey.
“In retrospect, yes, I probably should have spoken directly to the governor of the Bank of England at the time,” she added.
