The governor of the Bank of England should resign over his response to the 2022 mini budget, Liz Truss has said.
The ex-PM expressed her belief that elected officials should have a bigger role in the decisions made by the central bank and its director, Andrew Bailey. She was Prime Minister for only 49 days after her mini-budget led to enormous market turmoil.
In an upcoming interview set to air on LBC on Monday night, she accuses her political adversaries of trying to "smear" her reputation by blaming her fiscal event for the UK's subsequent financial struggles.
The former PM is making appearances in the media in the run-up to the launch of her book, Ten Years To Save The West. On being asked by LBC if Mr Bailey should still hold his position as the Bank of England's governor, the former prime minister responded: "No, I don't. I certainly think there should be a proper investigation into what happened in September 2022, and the actions the Bank of England took."
"The difficulty is the way that (former Labour prime minister) Gordon Brown set up the independence of the Bank of England in the statute books means it's very hard to move a governor of the Bank of England on, but I think big mistakes have been made with monetary policy."
Among her criticisms, she highlighted that interest rates have been "too low for too long", and argued that the steps taken to inject money into the economy following the 2008 financial crash and the Covid pandemic known as quantitative easing had "done a lot of damage".
Ms Truss clarified that she was not advocating for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to have full control over interest rates. However, she added: "What's now happening is the Bank of England is managing monetary policy and fiscal policy is having to follow. Fiscal policy has (been) straitjacketed because it's the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), yet another independent body that set the parameters. And I think you've got to ask, is that really democratic? ".
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The Tory MP for South West Norfolk expressed her desire to "see the back" of the OBR, the watchdog which forecasts the results of Government tax and spend decisions, and criticised other public bodies including the Environment Agency and Natural England.
She also told the Sun newspaper's Never Mind The Ballots that the UK must leave institutions which have been thwarting the Government's Rwanda plan, aimed at deterring unauthorised migration. "We've got to leave the ECHR (European Covention on Human Rights), abolish the Supreme Court and abolish the Human Rights Act," Ms Truss stated.
Advocating for a British "Bill of Rights", she added: "The idea that human rights were only invented in 1997 is a Blair fiction." Ms Truss defended her tenure as Prime Minister against critics who have blamed the mini budget for the UK's subsequent economic woes. "What they're saying is not borne out by the facts. It's a smear, it's a smear," she told LBC.
The former PM said she was working to counter these claims, adding: "When I meet people quite often out canvassing or out on the street, people will say you did the right thing."
The Liberal Democrats have suggested that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should remove the Conservative whip from Ms Truss because of her comments. Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper stated: "Sunak cannot have a Conservative MP on his backbenches who peddles conspiracy theories and is, frankly, becoming a national embarrassment on the global stage."
She added: "By allowing Liz Truss to remain a Conservative MP, Rishi Sunak is yet again proving himself too weak to govern. The Conservative party has now reached a new low, where conspiracy theories are allowed to fester in their parliamentary party."
The Prime Minister's official spokesman commented: "The PM is fully supportive of the work the independent Bank of England has done to help bring down inflation. The Government continues to ensure that fiscal and monetary policy are working together to bring inflation down."
The Bank of England was approached for comment.