London — Amidst the rain, Liz Truss delivered her first speech as prime minister outside No. 10 Downing Street. She began by paying tribute to Boris Johnson, whom “history will see as a hugely consequential prime minister,” for having delivered Brexit, facilitating the Covid vaccine, and standing up to Russian aggression. Nevertheless, she said, “now is the time to tackle the issues that have been holding Britain back.” Her three priorities are cutting taxes, addressing the energy crisis, and strengthening the National Health Service.
During her victory speech, Truss said, “I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservative,” perhaps a dig at Johnson’s left-leaning economic policies. Much to the chagrin of free-market Tories, tax cuts were not a priority for Johnson, who instead raised the minimum wage, pursued lavish infrastructure investment, and oversaw the biggest increase in public spending in 15 years.
Clearly, Truss is making a conspicuous right turn on the economy. But this will not be easy. After all, the reason Boris Johnson decided to spend so much is that doing so was popular with the electorate. (Never mind the consequences.) Of course, Truss was elected by the Conservative Party, not the country. But while popularity may not matter that much to her now, it will be a persistent challenge in the months ahead — especially as the United Kingdom continues to experience a severe cost-of-living crisis owing to soaring gas prices and as pressure on the National Health Service increases during winter.