Analysis: Liz Truss has scrapped her mini-budget, but it may not save her

Liz Truss has abandoned the policies that made her Prime Minister and the friend who supported her along the way.

After six weeks in which she has handed Labour a 36-point lead in the latest poll and lost economic credibility with her MPs and the public, Ms Truss is going for a reset.

Gone are the principles she purported to believe in, as are the pledges she made in the leadership race and since she was elected.

There will be no cut to corporation tax, basic income tax, or alcohol duty rates, with the end to the cap on bankers’ bonuses being one of the few policies left standing.

Liz Truss may be reaching the end of her premiership.

Doing so will end her “anti-growth coalition” soundbite, as will the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor.

A popular figure in the One Nation group, his promotion is a clear olive branch to a wing of her MPs she had previously ignored, if not derided.

Having crammed her cabinet with loyalists, Ms Truss now has a dissenting voice in the tent, albeit one she only got after allegedly sounding out Sajid Javid first.

Her problem is, it’s not so much locking the stable door after the horse has bolted as shooting the horse and pretending someone else did it.

The plans dropped are not just those of former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, they are hers as well, views they discussed and dreamed of doing together for years.

She isn’t leaving a £72 billion black hole in the public finances, but Ms Truss absolutely tried to do so.

Corporation tax isn’t being cut while the poorest struggle with the cost-of-living, but the Prime Minister hoped it would be.

This is a mess of her making and, speaking to Tory MPs, they have seen enough and are ready to act.

Worst of all, she is refusing to explain her position or defend the party, prompting a growing belief among MPs that “even she knows she’s rubbish”.

That she failed to appear for Labour’s urgent question also showed weakness, suggesting the Prime Minister no longer believes she can win the argument.

MPs do not believe she can turn it around and, with cuts to public spending to come, they are running out of reasons not to remove her.