Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has written a legal “cease and desist” letter to Sir Keir Starmer, demanding he stop saying he “destroyed the economy”.
Her lawyers claim repeated claims made by Sir Keir are “false and defamatory” and have hurt her politically just before she lost her south-west Norfolk seat in the general election.
Mr Truss is Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, forced to resign after just 49 days in office as borrowing costs soared in the aftermath of the government’s mini-budget.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson suggested Truss should also write to the “millions of people across the country” who feel their mortgage bills have been pushed up by the Prime Minister’s economic policies.
A spokesperson told reporters that Sir Keir “absolutely stands by” what he said about the previous government’s record.
In response to .
Earlier, House of Commons leader Lucy Powell told MPs: “We’re not going to stop telling the truth that they (Tories) have ruined the economy.”
Treasury Secretary Darren Jones also spoke in the House of Commons, saying the previous Conservative government had “ruined the lives of people across this country” through “arrogance” and “recklessness”.
This comes as the pound has fallen to a one-year low and government borrowing costs have risen to the highest level in 16 years.
Economists have warned that these rising costs could force further tax increases and spending cuts as the government tries to stick to its self-imposed rule not to borrow to cover day-to-day spending.
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, Jones insisted there was “no need for emergency intervention” in financial markets.
He said changes in borrowing costs were driven by “a wide range of domestic and international factors”.
Mel Stride, the Conservative shadow chancellor, said Labour’s tax hikes would be “swallowed by higher borrowing costs and provide no benefit to the British people”.
A “cease and desist” letter typically represents a warning that the recipient will face legal action if they continue the allegedly illegal activity.
In a letter to Sir Keir on Thursday, Truss’s lawyers said his statements about their client were “false and misleading”.
“Their publications are not only extremely harmful, but also grossly defamatory and indefensible…It would be difficult to avoid the conclusion that they were made with malicious intent,” the letter adds.
Truss’ lawyers said in a statement: “We are seeking an amicable basis for him to agree to cease repeating clearly factually incorrect and defamatory statements about our client.”
“This request is made out of basic decorum expected among senior politicians, and I trust that you will respond accordingly.”
The letter argues that movements in financial markets during Mr Truss’ tenure as No 10 should not be classified as an economic collapse.
A few weeks after Truss Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s September 2022 mini-budget, which included wide-ranging tax cuts, there was a sharp negative market reaction, causing mortgage costs to soar.
But in a video posted on X after Downing Street’s comments, Mr Truss said Labor, the Bank of England and “the media establishment tainted my budget and forced its cancellation”.
“Now they are plunging the country into an economic crisis,” she added.
At the Conservative Party conference in October last year, the former prime minister suggested that Labour’s tax rise – at the time anticipated in Rachel Reeves’ upcoming first budget – was the result of her financial inheritance. He said it was “economic ignorance”.
In July last year, shortly after Labor came to power, civil servants wrote a document describing the mini-Budget as “disastrous” after she complained that it showed “blatant” political bias. changed.
A report into the King’s Speech setting out the government’s new legislative program, published earlier on the government’s website, said the former prime minister’s approach had undermined the UK’s fiscal credibility.
The Cabinet Office said the document had been “revised and updated”.
