British PM apologises for economic plan, spending cuts to come

FILE PHOTO: British Prime Minister Liz Truss looks on as she speaks to the media at the Empire State building in New York, U.S., September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool/File Photo

LONDON: Prime Minister Liz Truss has apologised for threatening Britain’s economic stability after she was forced to scrap her vast tax-cutting plans and embark on a programme of “eye-watering” public spending cuts instead.

Truss watched silently in parliament on Monday as her new finance minister Jeremy Hunt tore up the radical economic agenda the prime minister had proposed less than a month ago, and which triggered a bond market rout so deep that the Bank of England had to intervene to prevent pension funds from collapsing.