Liz Truss speaks at party conference amid Tory turmoil
Liz Truss will call for unity from European leaders to “address the fundamental causes” of the continent’s energy and migration challenges as she attempts to move beyond splits within her party.
The prime minister will attend a summit of European leaders in Prague today, with French president Emmanuel Macron among those she is expected to meet.
Ms Truss travels to the Czech Republic for the meeting of the European Political Community after a difficult Conservative conference dominated by internal division and backbench opposition to some of her key policies.
She blamed the UK’s economic woes on a supposed “anti-growth coalition” of opposition parties, trade unions, think tanks, environmentalists and opponents of Brexit in her first Tory conference speech as leader.
The speech drew the ire of campaigners and some in her own party.
Countryside campaigners the CPRE said the prime minister’s “disingenuous and misleading” broadside presented a “false choice between the economy and the environment”, while Tory former cabinet minister Stephen Dorrell branded her comments “Orwellian”.
Truss to call for European unity at Prague summit
Prime minister Liz Truss is set to attend a summit of European leaders in Prague today after a difficult Conservative conference, where she’ll urge leaders to “address the fundamental causes” of energy and migration challenges.
Ms Truss is expected to meet Emmanuel Macron for a bilateral meeting today after holding talks with him during a UN summit in New York last month.
Downing Street said Ms Truss’s talks with Mr Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will focus on migration and aim to secure progress on joint operations to disrupt people-trafficking gangs.
No 10 added that the prime minister will encourage countries to act more quickly to end Europe’s reliance on Russian energy supplies in light of its invasion of Ukraine.
Read what the prime minister is going to say:
She will use the summit to highlight how the UK has continued to play a leading role in Europe
Good morning! Welcome to The Independent’s blog covering all the latest updates from Westminster and the prime minister’s trip to the Czech Republic today. Stay tuned!
