Liz Truss deserves a chance says Newbury MP Laura Farris
Newbury MP Laura Farris has defended Prime Minister Liz Truss’ cabinet appointees and said she deserves a chance.
The Conservative MP said Ms Truss is starting her role at a difficult time with the cost of living issues, energy prices, energy resilience, the war in Ukraine, strikes, NHS difficulties and the re-emergence of China as a threat.
“We cannot ignore the circumstances that led to Boris Johnson’s departure,” she said. “There was a collapse in confidence in him.”
Ms Truss announced her new cabinet last night and today (Wednesday), which included North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse, who was named the Secretary of State for Education, and Reading West MP Alok Sharma, who retains his position as COP26 president.
Mr Malthouse, who was appointed as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in July, will be succeeding James Cleverly, who has just been named the new foreign secretary.
Mrs Farris supported the “no nonsense” Prime Minister’s decisions and said: “It is true her cabinet is primarily from her team but I think that is okay with any Prime Minister.
“You should sit round the cabinet table at 8 o’clock every morning with a team that you trust.
“Keir Starmer did the same with his most recent reshuffle, he kicked out everybody on the left of the party and he put in people who he wanted to work with and I think that is a fair thing for a leader to do.
“I am going to be giving [Ms Truss] my wholehearted support because you can’t do this without a team of MPs who are working with you and telling you what’s going on in their constituencies, making constructive ideas and trying to help you develop the right policies.”
When asked about her thoughts on Ms Truss’ plans to tackle the cost of living ahead of her energy announcement, she said: “I am glad she has moved a bit since the campaign and is now talking about a really comprehensive package. I think she was likely to do that because circumstances changed so much through the month of August.
“The thing that was the most alarming for my constituents and everybody, was seeing the way that the energy price cap was shifting.
“I had businesses and care homes contacting me saying that their bill was going to be five times what it had been the previous year.
“That could have led to a catastrophic outcome for them so she is obviously going to do something significant in tomorrow’s [energy announcement] so I am glad she is doing that.”
The Newbury MP said she has already been in discussion with Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng about other issues raised by her constituents.
“Understandably they were a bit frustrated by a whole summer of a leadership election," she added.
“I think there is a good question as to whether it is ever appropriate to have a leadership election of that length when the party in question is the party of government because it creates a vacuum.”
The conservative MP, who said she knows Kwarteng very well, added: “I am really glad I will have an open minded communication with the chancellor because the economic challenges are the greatest ones and so I think that’s something I feel very positive about.”
Mrs Farris called Ms Truss a “realistic, no nonsense” person and hopes that she will address issues with the public in a “robust way” particularly when it comes to energy prices.
She said she hopes for a more open dialogue about the “geopolitical realities” that have led to the increased cost of living.
She added: “This is the cost of the war in Ukraine and whether we like it or not we are now in an economic conflict with Russia.
“Maybe one of the failings of the previous Prime Minister is that there was not enough of a conversation about what was happening and what the trade-offs needed to be.
“I think it is worth having an open dialogue with the British people about because I think failing to do so, and allowing it to be a bit ambiguous as to why things are happening, is an unhelpful thing.
“I would hope that her new Government will set out more clearly to people.”
