Prime Minister Liz Truss broke her silence today and addressed concerns about the turmoil in the financial markets.
In a series of interviews with BBC local radio she reiterated her determination to see through the fiscal plans announced on Friday.
There is also no sign that the fiscal policy statement planned for 23 November would be brought forward.
Truss said this morning: “We're facing very, very difficult economic times, we're facing that on a global level.”
“We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing and that means taking controversial and difficult decisions.”
“But I'm prepared to do that as Prime Minister because what's important to me is that we get our economy moving.”
“This is the right plan that we have set out,” Truss told BBC Radio Norfolk. “Of course there will always be people who will oppose a particular measure.”
“And it’s not necessarily easy. But we have to do it.”
Pressed repeatedly by the presenters about why her government had cut taxes primarily for richer people in Friday’s mini-budget despite inflationary pressures, prompting a decline in the pound and a rise in the cost of government debt, Truss rejected any idea of error.
“Of course, some of these decisions are difficult,” she told BBC Radio Lancashire. “Some people don’t like them. But what I couldn’t do is allow the situation to drift. So that is why my government has taken urgent action.”
With a number of Tory MPs openly mutinous ahead of next week’s Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Truss tried to argue that the issues faced by the UK were little different to those of other countries.
“This is a global problem,” she told BBC Radio Kent. “But what is absolutely right is the UK government stepped in and acted at this difficult time. We’ve seen difficult markets around the world because of the very difficult international situation we face. And what our government has done is we’ve taken decisive action.”
Newspapers reported that several Conservative MPs were calling for chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to step down following the market turmoil sparked by his mini-budget.