Truss to defend Budget tax cuts

LIZ Truss is set to urge the Government to cut taxes, shrink welfare spending and raise the retirement age in a speech one year on from her disastrous mini-budget.

The former prime minister will use a speech at the Institute for Government think tank today to defend decisions made during her brief spell in Number 10, calling it unfair to say she had pursued unfunded tax cuts.

She will also call for Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party to embrace free market ideologies, and ditch some green commitments amid cost-of-living pressures on voters.

Ms Truss was forced out of office last October after the budget of £45 billion of tax cuts outlined by her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng sparked an economic crisis.