World enews: Embattled U.K. PM Truss loses 2nd minister in week amid political and economic turmoil

British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced down a hostile opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan.

Yet the grim faces of her ruling Conservative Party’s lawmakers behind her in the House of Commons suggested that Truss faces an uphill struggle to save her job.

And within hours of Truss’ appearance in Parliament for a regular session titled Prime Minister’s Questions, she lost a senior member of her government.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman quit saying in her resignation letter that she had to go after she breached government rules but also that she had concerns over the direction of Truss’ government.

“I have made a mistake, I accept responsibility; I resign,” Braverman, a popular figure on the party’s right wing and a champion of more restrictive immigration policies, said in letter to Truss posted on Twitter.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman.Leon Neal / Getty Images file

She said she had sent an official document from her personal email to a parliamentary colleague, adding that this marked “a technical infringement of the rules” and that it was therefore “right for me to go.”

The second senior minister to leave the government in less than a week, Braverman’s departure heaps yet more pressure on Truss as she fights to stay in power just over six weeks after she entered Downing Street.

Truss fired her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, on Friday after the economic package the pair drew up spooked financial markets when it was announced on Sept. 23.

The plan’s £45 billion ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts sparked turmoil on financial markets, hammering the value of the pound and increasing the cost of U.K. government borrowing. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk.

Truss attended her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions since Kwarteng’s replacement, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt, ripped up the tax-cutting package unveiled by her new government less than a month ago.

Hunt scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31.

Truss apologized to Parliament and admitted she had made mistakes during her short tenure as the U.K.’s head of government, but insisted that by changing course she had “taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability.”

Opposition lawmakers shouted “Resign!” as she spoke.

Asked by opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, “Why is she still here?” Truss retorted: “I am a fighter and not a quitter. I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.”

Official figures released Wednesday showed U.K. inflation rose to 10.1% in September, returning to a 40-year high first hit in July, as the soaring cost of food squeezed household budgets. While inflation is high around the world — driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on energy supplies — polls show most Britons blame the government for the country’s economic pain.

Opponents also accuse the Conservative government of sowing chaos by flip-flopping on policy. On Wednesday, Truss reassured retirees that pensions would continue to rise in line with inflation — less than 24 hours after her spokesman said the government was considering removing the expensive pledge as it seeks to cut public spending.

With opinion polls giving the opposition Labour Party a large and growing lead, many Conservatives now believe their only hope of avoiding electoral oblivion is to replace Truss. But she insists she is not stepping down, and legislators are divided about how to get rid of her.

Truss faced another test in Parliament later Wednesday when lawmakers vote on a Labour Party motion seeking to ban fracking for shale gas — a policy that Truss recently approved.

Conservative Party whips said the vote would be treated as “a confidence motion in the government,” meaning the government would fall if the motion passed, triggering an election. But MPs voted by 326 to 230 against the motion, supporting the government and staving off defeat for Truss.

A national election does not have to be held until 2024. Truss on Wednesday appeared to rule out calling an early election, saying “what is important is we work together … to get through this winter and protect the economy.”

Under Conservative Party rules, Truss is safe from a leadership challenge for a year, but the rules can be changed if enough lawmakers want it. There is fevered speculation about how many lawmakers have already submitted letters calling for a no-confidence vote.

Some Conservative legislators believe Truss could be forced to resign if the party agrees on a successor.