So Liz Truss is the new Tory party leader and Prime Minister.

I don’t want to appear churlish, because I want this country to do well, but the more I learn about Liz Truss the even less impressed I become.  It was a terrible choice Tory party members had to begin with, but they have absolutely surpassed themselves this time.

Even putting aside Truss’s deservedly much-ridiculed comments about imported cheese being “a disgrace”, and (far less easily) her idiotic remarks claiming British workers had lower productivity because of their “skill and application” and “mindset and attitude”, she seems to be a classic example of someone in British politics who has failed upwards.

All Britain has to show for the last 12 years of Tory government is low wages, high prices and a Tory cost of living crisis.

After years serving in Tory cabinets, nodding through the decisions that got us into this mess, this new Prime Minister simply doesn’t have the answers to this crisis.

Labour does. That’s why we have set out fully-funded plans to ensure no one pays a penny more on their energy bill this winter. Because Labour is on the side of working people, while the Tories are the party protecting oil and gas profits.

We don’t need more of the same old failed Tory ideas that got us in this mess: we need the fresh start for Britain that only Labour offers.

Labour has repeatedly said we want to reduce the tax burden on working people.

But if like Liz Truss you plan on cutting taxes for the wealthiest purely for ideological purposes and don’t have a plan for growth – which she doesn’t – we’ll either end up with public finances that are out of control, or another round of brutal public spending cuts – neither of which this country can afford.

So far, she’s spent more time talking about cuts to corporation tax than the cost of living crisis. That’s got to change and the new PM needs to hurry up, otherwise there will be terrible consequences for many people this winter.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council