Liz Truss says the UK would be Ukraine’s greatest ally under her leadership
On Ukraine’s independence day, Ms Truss pointed to her record as Foreign Secretary since Russia’s invasion.
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Your support makes all the difference.Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss has promised Ukraine will “have no greater ally” than the UK if she is made prime minister.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph on Ukraine’s independence day, Ms Truss pointed to her record as Foreign Secretary since Russia’s invasion.
“We are already at the vanguard of international support in providing £2.3 billion in military aid, more than any other nation in Europe,” she said.
“We rallied our G7 partners in targeting Russia with the toughest sanctions ever on a major economy.”
She added that she would “go further as prime minister” by declassifying more intelligence to expose Russian misinformation while also repeating a promise to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.Earlier, at the latest leadership hustings, Ms Truss railed against what she described as “Treasury orthodoxy” as she defended herself against accusations her economic proposals were dangerous.
Her opponent Rishi Sunak warned that millions of households in the UK could face “destitution” without further aid this winter, after claiming Ms Truss’ tax-cutting agenda could “pour fuel on the fire” of inflation.
The cost-of-living crisis dominated the debate over who will succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, as both candidates clashed at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.
Ms Truss told the audience of Tory members: “This whole language of ‘unfunded’ tax cuts implies the static model, the so-called abacus economics that the Treasury orthodoxy has promoted for years, but it hasn’t worked in our economy because what we have ended up with is high tax, high spending and low growth.
“That is not a sustainable model for Britain’s future.”
Ms Truss sought to pitch her proposals as a new economic model ahead of the hustings, claiming that “business as usual” could not go on.
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi claimed that Ms Truss “understands the economics of growth” as he introduced the Foreign Secretary.
The Sunak campaign has attacked Ms Truss’ economic credibility in the final weeks of the race, after reports suggested she will not ask the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for a forecast ahead of the measures she is planning for next month, if she becomes prime minister.