美国国家公共电台 NPR--Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss is fighting for her political survival

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss is fighting for her political survival

Transcript¹

In the opening weeks of her premiership, Truss weathered a widely criticized economic package and fired her finance minister. Are we heading for another Conservative Party leadership fight?

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

It has been a rough six weeks for British Prime Minister Liz Truss. Since she came into power last month, her government has reversed course more than once on major economic and tax proposals. Those plans shocked markets and sent investors² fleeing. And her brand-new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, has announced an even greater course reversal. That was in an attempt to reassure³ those same financial markets. It seems, initially⁴, at least, to have calm the turmoil⁵ in the markets. But to make sense of all of this and to explain the potential implications, we're joined by London-based journalist Willem Marx.

Willem, first of all, what has been announced today?

WILLEM MARX: Well, just a bit of context, A - last month, Truss and her first finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled a series of tax proposals and spending plans that they said were designed to kick-start Britain's economy. They were released without independent analysis of their funding details. And investors got worried they'd add up to many more billions in government borrowing and, thus, greater public debt.

The value of the pound fell to a historic low. The costs for the government to borrow money it needed skyrocketed as well. And so what Truss' new finance minister's announced is that the basic rates of income tax will not drop. The plans to cap people's energy prices will no longer stay in place for two years, but only for six months. This effectively means around three-quarters of Truss' planned tax cuts, which were the basis, don't forget, for her entire leadership campaign, are now going to be dropped.

MARTINEZ: OK. Now, did she get at least a vote of confidence from the markets when they opened this morning?

MARX: Well, I'm not sure you can say that she did, but maybe Jeremy Hunt did just three days into his new job. He spent the weekend in reassurance⁶ mode doing a series of interviews. Today, he said that it was simply not the right approach to borrow money in order to cut taxes. And that, indeed, has been a plank⁷ of the conservative approach over the last 12 years in government.

In terms of the reaction on the markets, the pound did strengthen pretty significantly over the course of the day. The stock market in Britain has risen. The cost of borrowing for the government itself in the form of government bond yields - that has fallen. And that may mean there's less pressure next month for the Bank of England to raise interest rates. Those two metrics really matter - government borrowing costs and interest rates - because they're the main drivers for mortgage costs in Britain, where we have a lot of variable rate mortgages. Those have risen hugely over the past few weeks, and that's been a major reason for discontent in Truss' Conservative Party.

MARTINEZ: So I'm going to squeeze three questions in one, Willem. The Conservative Party - does want to keep Truss as its leader? How's it faring in the polls? And what has all of this done to the U.K.'s image abroad?

MARX: Well, let's start with the lengthy⁸ summer campaign to replace Boris Johnson. Truss never once commanded majority support from her own legislators in Parliament. Already, several of them, unsurprisingly, have publicly said she should resign. She's holding meetings all today with ministers and members of Parliament to try and shore up her support. The Conservative Party's polling numbers - they've gone through the floor thanks to her handling of the economy since she took office. The overall gap between conservatives and their opponents, Labour - it's widened to 30% in favor of Labour. With around two years to the next general election, you can imagine that's creating a lot of concern among party legislators because they may be the ones that lose their parliamentary seats.

And then, finally, to that last question - we've heard everyone from the Canadian former Bank of England governor, the German ambassador to London, even President Biden expressing their dismay at Truss' original tax plans. That no doubt has added even greater pressure on her to reverse course, as she now seems to have done. And the question remaining for many in Britain is whether this sudden change of direction will be enough to salvage⁹ her own position.

MARTINEZ: All right. That's journalist Willem Marx in London. Thanks a lot.

MARX: Thanks, A.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

6 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。

7 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

8 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

9 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。