UK PM underscores growth in Tory conference speech

LONDON -- Prime Minister Liz Truss of the United Kingdom underscored economic growth in her speech on Wednesday at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, citing "immense challenges."

Truss said she had three priorities for the British economy "growth, growth and growth."

She said the scale of the challenge is "immense", referring to the Ukraine crisis, the aftermath of COVID-19 and the global economic crisis.

The prime minister, who's been in office for only one month, said cutting taxes "is the right thing to do, morally and economically," despite her recent U-turn on plans to scrap the 45 percent income tax rate for the highest earners.

Truss also hit out at the "anti-growth coalition," who are "enemies of enterprises," naming the opposition Labour Party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), the Liberal Democrats, as well as "militant" unions and Brexit deniers.

Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland, responded on Twitter: "Ranting about an imaginary 'anti-growth coalition' is just an attempt to obscure the hard reality that the biggest brake on UK growth is Brexit -- and that's on the Tories."

"People across Britain are worried about rising bills, rising mortgages, rising costs. Yet the Tories still refuse to abandon their kamikaze budget that crashed the economy," Labour Leader Keir Starmer tweeted, referring to the controversial "mini-budget" unveiled by Truss's government, which contained a host of debt-funded tax cuts.

"Labour would do things differently because we know real growth comes from working people and businesses," he said.