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jeremy hunt

Top Twitter reactions to Jeremy Hunt’s statement as Liz Truss left 'humiliated'

Top Twitter reactions to Jeremy Hunt’s statement as Liz Truss left 'humiliated'
Jeremy Hunt reverses income tax break in U-turn on Truss’s mini-Budget
The Independent

She’s probably not even finished unpacking, but the Prime Minister is edging closer and closer to getting the boot from Number 10 after her new chancellor all but rubbished her mini-budget.

Jeremy Hunt ditched almost all of the tax cuts pledged by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng and scaled back support for household energy bills in a statement which essentially saw him snatching the reins of power from Liz Truss.

We’ve rounded up the key points from his Monday-morning speech here but, to sum up, only the scrapping of the National Insurance rise and stamp duty plans remain from Kwarteng’s proposed tax cuts.

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In his televised statement, the new Chancellor – who only took office on Friday – warned of more “tough” decisions to come.

“Governments cannot eliminate volatility in markets but they can play their part and we will do so,” he said.

Here’s a look at how Twitter responded to his announcement:

Hunt’s last-minute statement came as a fourth Tory MP, Guildford's Angela Richardson, called publicly for Truss to stand down saying that the problems with the public finances were “100 per cent down to the Prime Minister”.

Richardson told Times Radio: “I just don’t think that it’s tenable that she can stay in her position any longer. And I’m very sad to have to say that."

Meanwhile, Truss responded defiantly by insisting that the dramatic change in tack announced by the Chancellor “supports and delivers” for people across the country.

In a tweet posted about an hour after Hunt's statement, she wrote: “The British people rightly want stability, which is why we are addressing the serious challenges we face in worsening economic conditions. We have taken action to chart a new course for growth that supports and delivers for people across the United Kingdom.”

She failed to point out that the "new course" for growth amounted to a trashing of the previous one that she'd masterminded. Instead, others did that for her:

Separately, Downing Street sidestepped questions on whether Truss would be handing in her resignation, insisting that she remained “focused on delivery”.

Asked who was running the country, given that the Chancellor had just torn up her economic strategy, the PM's official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister. She has been working closely with her Chancellor over the weekend to agree this approach."

Pressed on whether she accepted she had a credibility problem, he added: “The Prime Minister is demonstrating that she is able to make the difficult decisions necessary to provide the leadership for this country.”

He might want to take a quick look at Twitter to see whether people agree...

Still, at least some big Tory names have voiced their support(ish) for the PM.

Nadine Dorries tweeted that there was no "unity candidate" available to the Tories to replace Truss and so they should back Truss... or bring back Boris Johnson:

Suffice it to say, not everyone loves the sound of those first two choices, but there's plenty of backing for the third...


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Liz Trusskwasi kwartengconservativesjeremy hunt
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