Truss to insist 'disruption is the price of success' as she fights to bring warring Cabinet into line
5 October 2022, 00:19 | Updated: 5 October 2022, 06:59
Liz Truss is set to insist disruption is the price of success as she fights to bring a Cabinet war into line.
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Ms Truss will acknowledge her plans to reshape the country will cause "disruption" but insist there can be no more "drift and delay" in the effort to boost economic growth in her first Tory conference speech as leader.
She will defend her "new approach" which will "unleash the full potential of our great country".
But the Prime Minister will face a tough task restoring Tory morale after a conference which has seen a U-turn over a totemic tax policy, Cabinet dissent and the threat of another major split over the level of benefits.
Ms Truss will say: "For too long, our economy has not grown as strongly as it should have done.
"For too long, the political debate has been dominated by how we distribute a limited economic pie. Instead, we need to grow the pie so that everyone gets a bigger slice.
"That is why I am determined to take a new approach and break us out of this high-tax, low-growth cycle. That is what our plan is about: getting our economy growing and rebuilding Britain through reform."
She will go on to say: "Whenever there is change, there is disruption. Not everyone will be in favour.
"But everyone will benefit from the result - a growing economy and a better future. That is what we have a clear plan to deliver."
It comes as members of Ms Truss' Cabinet have locked horns over recent decisions from the leader.
Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke earlier backed Home Secretary Suella Braverman who accused Tory rebels of staging a ‘coup’ following the government’s unprecedented 45p tax U-turn.
Meanwhile, Penny Mordaunt, who fought Ms Truss for the leadership and is now in her Cabinet as leader of the Commons, said it "makes sense" to increase benefits in line with inflation.
It contradicted expected plans to raise benefits by around 5.4 per cent in line with earnings, in a move that would save the Government an estimated £5 billion.
Despite no longer being a part of the Cabinet, former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries also spoke out against Ms Truss.
She claimed that the Conservative party is currently set to "absolutely lose" the next election mainly because MPs ousted Boris Johnson.
She told LBC: "I'm not calling for a general election because with the poll rating at the moment, we'd absolutely lose it.
"Conservative MPs removed our most electorally successfully Prime Minister for a generation in Boris Johnson and we replaced him with Liz Truss, who I did support.
"We can't remove a Prime Minister who won the biggest majority in 40 years - the biggest majority since I think 1979 - we can't replace him when that was less than three years ago and replace all of the policies as well, which is what Liz has said she's going to do."
She said Tory voters at the last general election voted for either Boris or the Conservative manifesto.
"For the new Prime Minister to the remove the policies does not fit with what is expected of a democratic state," she said.
LBC exclusive: Iain Dale interviews Nadine Dorries
However, Ms Truss remains optimistic and will tell activists in Birmingham she hopes to create a "new Britain for a new era", with an unashamedly pro-growth agenda - even though not everyone will be in favour of her methods.
Elements of Ms Truss' plan were set out in Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget, a statement which led to market turbulence and an eventual U-turn over the plan to scrap the 45p rate of income tax for top earners.
But she will double down on her gamble in search of economic growth, arguing that it is the best route out of the current storm.
Alongside measures to boost growth, the Prime Minister will insist she will keep an iron grip on the nation's finances, with a leaner state offering value for taxpayers' money.
She will say: "This is a great country. But I know that we can do better and we must do better.
"We have huge talent across the country. We're not making enough of it. To deliver this, we need to get Britain moving. We cannot have any more drift and delay at this vital time."
