Liz Truss vows to 'face down separatists who threaten to break up United Kingdom'

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Liz Truss vows to 'face down separatists who threaten to break up United Kingdom'​

The Prime Minister pledged to "realise on the promise of Brexit" but made no specific mention of the Northern Ireland Protocol

Brendan HughesPolitical reporter

14:29, 5 OCT 2022

Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers her keynote speech at the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham

Prime Minister Liz Truss has said her party will "face down the separatists" who threaten to break up the United Kingdom.
Ms Truss said the Conservatives will "realise on the promise of Brexit", but she made no specific mention of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In her first conference speech as Tory leader, she pledged to remove all "EU-inspired red tape" by the end of the year.

Northern Ireland was only mentioned once in the address as the Prime Minister vowed to "level up" across the UK by creating new investment zones.

Ms Truss said she would make the "difficult but necessary" choices to get economic growth, promising to steer the country through the "tempest" and "get Britain moving".

Her speech was interrupted by Greenpeace protesters holding a banner which read "who voted for this?" before they were ejected from the hall in Birmingham.

It came amid a bruising conference for Ms Truss after just a month in the job, fending off Tory dissent with a U-turn on plans to abolish the 45p top rate of tax.

Ms Truss said her party wants to create investment zones "in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland".

She added: "Now is the time to harness the power of free enterprise to transform our country and ensure our greatest days lie ahead.

"This is the United Kingdom at its best, working together and getting our economy growing.

"And we will face down the separatists who threaten to pull apart our precious Union, our family."

Ms Truss said the UK is "seizing the new-found freedoms outside the European Union".

She said: "We are the party who got Brexit done and we will realise on the promise of Brexit.

"We are building an economy which makes the most of the huge opportunities Brexit offers.

"By the end of the year, all EU-inspired red tape will be history. Instead, we will ensure regulation is pro-business and pro-growth."

The DUP has blocked the restoration of Stormont power-sharing in protest over the protocol, which has introduced new trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Talks are due to resume between London and Brussels in the latest attempt to resolve the impasse.

On Monday, Ms Truss said there was "no reason" why the Stormont Executive and Assembly should not be re-established now and she wants a protocol settlement that "works for everybody".

DUP minister Edwin Poots has warned that failing to address unionist concerns could lead to the "funeral of the Good Friday Agreement".

Setting out her vision in her conference speech, Ms Truss insisted "we must stay the course" in pursuit of her three priorities: "Growth, growth and growth."

She told the audience: "This mission will be difficult but necessary. We have no alternative if we want to get our economy growing again."

In a sign of support for Kwasi Kwarteng following the humiliation of the 45p U-turn, Ms Truss said she was "in lockstep" with her "dynamic" Chancellor.

She said a low-tax economy was a sign that "Britain is open for business".

But in an attempt to calm markets which had been spooked by Mr Kwarteng's mini-budget, Ms Truss promised to "keep an iron grip on the nation's finances".

PM vows to 'face down separatists who threaten to break up UK'

The Prime Minister pledged to "realise on the promise of Brexit" but made no specific mention of the Northern Ireland Protocol

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