I'm relieved that Kwasi Kwarteng was fired as Chancellor

This doesn't solve Britain's problems but it helps. It proves that the Liz Truss ultra-rightwing agenda is already dead in the water. She has now been forced to u-turn on most of her tax-cut agenda. This means its less likely that we will see further savage cuts in public services or that those cuts will not be as bad.

It also means that Truss is now a lame-duck prime minister. Everyone knows that she was professionally and ideologically very close to Kwarteng and firing him shows a big loss of authority and credibility because it was forced on her. The country still has massive problems and the Conservatives have no valid solutions but at least there is some limit on how bad things will get/

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MartinII · 70-79, M

It was a bizarre thing to do. Would have been more logical if she had fired herself! I assume she will be carted off before long.

I don’t see the Truss agenda as “ultra right-wing”. More mainstream Conservative, though that has rather been forgotten under May and Johnson. As you say tax-cutting and public expenditure cuts will be greatly reduced for the time being, but they will come back (probably after some years of Labour government!). The lesson of the recent debacle is not about the merits or otherwise of particular policies. It is that any radical economic policy, be it right or left, has to be very carefully planned and explained, not least to your own side, and should only be implemented when you have prepared the ground and when conditions are favourable.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@MartinII [quoteI don’t see the Truss agenda as “ultra right-wing”. More mainstream Conservative,][/quote]

Unsurprisingly, we disagree. That the markets revolted is evidence of this. Even the logic of free-market capitalism rejects this agenda.

Persephonee · 26-30, F

@Burnley123 Businesses might like tax cuts and deregulation but anyone would take stability and consistency any day. Assuming she ever realised that once upon a time, the Lettuce seems to have forgotten it.

Tbh I'm not sure I see it as ultra right-wing either. Just utterly bonkers.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@Burnley123 Well of course we disagree (in a friendly way I hope!) on the merits of a low tax low spend policy. But looked at neutrally, I don’t see anything ultra right-wing about it. Do you? And I don’t think the markets revolted against the policy, they revolted against the fact that the lower tax element was in place and the way it was to be afforded wasn’t.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Persephonee

ultra right-wing either. Just utterly bonkers.

And these are mutually exclusive terms? 😜