Harrogate Lib Dems say Liz Truss must go after series of Tory ‘disasters’ for nation

Senior Lib Dem Coun David Goode said the time had come for a change of government, rather than more U-turns and yet another leader.

"For the sake of our country – and to put the Conservatives out of their misery – now is the time for an election," said Coun Goode, town councillor for Knaresborough and a former county councillor.

"Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng said they were “in lockstep” yet we have a Prime Minister who is still in post after one of the most disastrous budgets in living memory.

"Elected by less than 0.2% of voters Liz Truss had a very questionable mandate.

"After the disaster which was the Mini Budget, it is questionable if she has any mandate at all from UK voters."

Coun Goode's comments follow Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey's condemnation at the weekend of the Tory government's "reckless" approach to the nation's economy.

"This mustn’t just be the end of Kwarteng’s disastrous chancellorship," said Mr Davey, "it should be the death knell of the Conservatives’ reckless mismanagement of our economy.

"It didn’t suddenly start with Kwarteng but it must end now."

Despite new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's attempts to steady the ship and reassure financial markets, Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dems claim the Government has simply run out of road.

"With a climate crisis, mortgage rates rising, probable recession, strikes, cost of living crisis, threats to cut benefits and NHS and social care on their knees, this Conservative government chose to bring in a reckless, un-costed, unfunded budget that made the situation in the UK a whole lot worse," said Coun Goode.

"Residents of Harrogate and Knaresborough are rightly angry and worried for their future, and we can expect more pain from the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as he looks to find spending cuts in the order of £40billion to try to balance the books and restore financial market confidence back in the UK."