Truss urges Rishi Sunak to be ‘bold’ as Prime Minister in last speech

Liz Truss warned Rishi Sunak he must be “bold” as she urged him to stick to her vision of a low tax economy in her last speech from No10. Speaking on the steps of Downing Street, the outgoing Prime Minister said it had been a “huge honour” to serve and that she was proud her Government had acted “urgent and decisively” to help struggling Britons with their energy bills.

“From my time as Prime Minister I am more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face,” she said.

Ms Truss refused to concede she had the wrong vision for Britain and called on her successor to radically transform the UK economy.

She said: “We simply cannot afford to be a low growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth. And where there are huge divides between different parts of our country.

“We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently. This means delivering more freedom for our own citizens and restoring power to democratic institutions.

“It means lower taxes so people can keep more of the money that they earn.”

Defending the speed at which she attempted to implement her measures, Ms Truss quoted Roman philosopher Seneca.

She said: “As the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, it’s not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it’s because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

Ms Truss’s farewell speech comes just 49 days after she first walked through the historic door of No10 as Prime Minister. She was forced to quit after unity within the Tory Party broke down.

Before giving her speech she held a final meeting of her Cabinet to say goodbye to her top team of ministers.

A No10 official said: “The Prime Minister opened Cabinet by thanking Ministers for their support. She said that in the short time the Government had been in place they had secured some significant achievements.

“She said the Government ensured the country was able to mourn the passing of Her Majesty The Queen and to welcome His Majesty King Charles III as the new monarch, a vital moment in the history of our country.

“The Prime Minister said the Government acted to immediately protect the public and businesses from unsustainably high energy bills – bringing in the Energy Price Guarantee to save the typical household around £700 this winter.

“The Government also stuck to its pledge to scrap the rise in national insurance and demonstrated its steadfast commitment in supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression.”

Therese Coffey, the Deputy Prime Minister, also used the meeting to thank Ms Truss “for her commitment to the country at a difficult time”.

Ms Truss thanked her family and her short-lived Downing Street team during the speech in front of a relatively small crowd of supporters that included her daughters Frances and Liberty, husband Hugh O’Leary and Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey.

“We continue to battle through a storm but I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people and I know that brighter days lie ahead,” she ended her speech by saying.

The outgoing Prime Minister then walked to the car to travel to Buckingham Palace to meet the King to formally tender her resignation.

His Majesty will meet with Mr Sunak shortly afterward to appoint him as her replacement before he gives a speech of his own.