Chas Geiger
Politics reporter
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has sent a legal “cease and desist” letter to Sir Keir Starmer demanding he stop saying she “crashed the economy”.
Her lawyers argue the claim made repeatedly by Sir Keir is “false and defamatory”, and harmed her politically in the run-up to losing her South West Norfolk seat in the general election.
Truss was the UK’s shortest-serving PM, forced to resign after just 49 days in office when borrowing costs soared in the aftermath of her government’s mini-budget.
The prime minister’s spokesman suggested Truss should also write to “millions of people up and down the country” who, he said, had seen their mortgage bills pushed up by her economic policies.
Sir Keir “absolutely stands by” his language about the previous government’s record, the spokesman told reporters.
Responding on X, Truss said: “I know Keir Starmer won’t repeat his allegations that I crashed the economy because he knows it’s a lie.”
Earlier, Commons leader Lucy Powell told MPs “we won’t cease and desist from telling the truth that they [the Conservatives] crashed the economy”.
Also speaking in the Commons, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the previous Conservative government had “ruined the lives of people across this country” through their “hubris” and “recklessness”.
It comes as the pound fell to its lowest level in over a year and government borrowing costs have surged to their highest level in 1
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