The Tories haven’t had a “clear run” for a whole decade, a Cabinet minister moaned last night.
Levelling-Up Secretary Simon Clarke claimed it’s been “one crisis after another” after 10 years that have seen four Prime Ministers, three Labour leaders, Tory austerity, Brexit, Covid, the cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine.
Mr Clarke backed Brexit.
He told ITV ’s Peston: “No Conservative government has had a clear run at events over the entire course of the last decade, it has been one crisis after another.
“What Liz is saying is that we need to accept that we may not get back to normal.
“The world is in an extraordinary state of affairs at the moment and that being so, that we just need to press on and govern, frankly, as we want to be remembered - as a government that makes things better for people.
“And clearly as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, my focus is on life chances, and on spreading opportunity. I'm delighted that we're moving to an unashamedly pro-growth policy.”
It comes after Liz Truss won the Tory leadership campaign on the back of pledges to increase economic growth after years of stagnation - despite the Tories being in power since 2010.
She told a business round table in New York yesterday: “There’s a Chinese proverb which says the best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago, but the second best time is today.”
Ms Truss, a government minister for the last decade, was among Tory leadership candidates who trashed their own party’s record during the campaign this summer.
She said: “We need to help patients in rural areas. I'm a rural MP, some of the ambulance waiting times in Norfolk are appalling."
Health Secretary Therese Coffey is unveiling a plan to deal with backlogs today.
She also said the UK’s policies under her rival Rishi Sunak were driving the UK into recession.
Mr Clarke was asked if his boss’s tax-cutting plans would add to inflation, and told ITV: “There are no risk-free options when you're faced with a global crisis of the kind that we're seeing.
“Having come straight out of the global pandemic and into the teeth of Russia invading western Europe, these are extraordinary times.
“But the real risk I think here lies in us being too passive in the face of those challenges, of accepting that we are in this economic low-growth trap.
“We want to try and achieve escape velocity, we want to recapture the growth rates that we were seeing prior to the 2008 financial crisis. Liz has an authentic Conservative prescription for that - that is to reduce the burden of tax facing both businesses and homes, and to do so decisively."
