Liz Truss's Conservative conference speech demonised a new enemy, the 'anti-growth coalition', but did little to reassure anxious nation – Scotsman comment

When protesters interrupted Liz Truss’s speech at the Conservative party conference, they aimed to highlight the Prime Minister's lack of mandate to put the UK’s plans for strong action on climate change “through the shredder”.

However, unfortunately for them, what they did was unite the audience behind her.

But for their intervention, Truss’s lacklustre speech – littered with platitudes about her "firm belief in the British people”, how “we need to get Britain moving” and the Python-esque claim she was “not interested in just talking about things, but actually in doing things” – could have bombed. But then, we should all beware unintended consequences.

The best part of the Prime Minister’s speech, loudly applauded, came when she reiterated the UK’s support for Ukraine.

“Ukraine can win, Ukraine must win, and Ukraine will win,” she said. However, while this was a chance to stress the cross-party support for Kyiv, Truss did not take it.

Instead, she made a segue into a divisive attack on people who disagree with her spurious plans to foster economic growth.

In order to defeat Russia, she said the UK needed a strong economy – no argument there – and that “will mean challenging those who try to stop growth”.

She listed the members of this “anti-growth coalition” as “Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP, the militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think-tanks, the talking heads, the Brexit deniers and Extinction Rebellion and some of the people we had in the hall earlier”.

Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers her keynote speech at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham (Picture: Jacob King/PA)

This coalition, she claimed, “don't understand the British people”, “don't face the same challenges as normal working people” and are “enemies of enterprise”.

However, while demonising an amorphous opponent can rally the faithful, in the way that Donald Trump used ‘antifa’, it may play less well in the country.

Given The Scotsman backed Remain and opposes Truss’s fantasy of trickle-down economics – based on hard data and numerous studies – we wonder if we are to be included on her list. Others, including some Conservatives, may feel the same.

With a new Savanta ComRes poll suggesting a Conservative wipeout in Scotland at the next general election, Truss may come to regret this unintended consequence of her speech, just as the country, facing a tough winter ahead, already regrets her elevation to the office of Prime Minister.