Truss stresses need to be ‘bold’ in farewell speech as PM

Liz Truss has stressed the need to be “bold” as she made her final speech as British prime minister before power is handed over to new Tory leader, Rishi Sunak.

After seven chaotic weeks as Prime Minister, Truss spoke on Tuesday of the need to praise tax cuts and celebrate reversing the national insurance hike imposed by Sunak when he was chancellor.

She warned that the nation continues to “battle through a storm” but insisted she believes that “brighter days lie ahead”.

She then travelled to Buckingham Palace to formally tender her resignation to the King after just 49 days in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in history.

Speaking from Downing Street, Truss said: “From my time as prime minister I’m more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges we face.”

“We simply cannot afford to be a low-growth country where the Government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country.

“We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.”

Ending her speech, she said: “We continue to battle through a storm but I believe in Britain, I believe in the British people and I know that brighter days lie ahead.”