Trade minister says Truss ‘deserves the confidence of the country’, as PM announces press conference
Newly-appointed trade minister Greg Hands has come out fighting for prime minister Liz Truss, saying she “deserves the confidence of the country”, as Liz Truss announces a press conference today at 2pm.
The cabinet official defended the embattled resident of Number 10 who is facing the prospect of an embarrassing U-turn on corporation tax.
It was announced on Friday morning that Liz Truss would hold a press conference at 2pm.
This morning it was reported Kwasi Kwarteng cut short his trip to the United States at an International Monetary Fund gathering, for crisis talks with the PM.
Hands took the job after Conor Burns was sacked as a junior trade minister and suspended from the party following a “complaint of serious misconduct”.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Hands insisted Truss and Kwarteng are still “absolutely determined to deliver on the growth plan” outlined in the mini-budget.
He echoed Kwasi Kwarteng’s comments on Thursday when asked about further U-turns, saying “let’s wait and see, you won’t have long to wait until the 31st October for the Chancellor to lay out those plans.”
This comes after reports of a bid among some Tory rebels to launch a coup, spearheaded by Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.
Hands defended Liz Truss saying “she has my confidence, she should have the confidence of all Conservative MPs, the whole Conservative Party and actually deserves the confidence of the country as we go into quite difficult economic times with the rise in energy driven by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the turmoil in global financial markets”.
“We need to get behind our Prime Minister as a party and show Liz Truss the confidence that she deserves – and Kwarsi Kwarteng – to make these difficult decisions going forward.”