The BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg and Liz Truss’ interview this morning got off to a bumpy start as the show continued to malfunction while the prime minister defended her divisive tax-cutting proposals.
As the PM attempted to reassure viewers that her Government had a “very clear strategy” to address the present economic crisis, footage from the BBC’s new flagship political discussion show, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, showed the program glitching.
Before returning to Ms. Truss adding that her Government wants to “make sure” it is “dealing with the problem of inflation,” the show abruptly cut to the BBC’s opening title.
After a brief blackout, viewers could only hear Ms. Truss speaking until the BBC’s opening title was once again shown.
The Prime Minister recently had a slew of difficult interviews with local BBC Radio journalists on anything from fracking to the energy problem, before the TV gaffe.
This morning, viewers promptly commented on the show’s technical difficulties on Twitter.
“This Laura Kuenssberg show blacking out and shattering is comical honestly,” one person remarked.
If this isn’t a great illustration of our government’s skill, I don’t know what is.
An another comment read: “BBC Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg has significant technical difficulties and coverage blacking out during PM Liz Truss’ interview.”
The British pound fell to an all-time low versus the dollar this week as a consequence of the government’s contentious tax-cutting proposals, which also caused a spike in borrowing prices.
Kwasi Kwarteng’s emergency budget, which alarmed investors and required a £65 billion intervention from the Bank of England to restore calm and neither consulted the independent OBR nor disclosed a strategy for controlling debt.
Before announcing the plan, the government could have “laid the ground better,” the prime minister acknowledged in remarks made before the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham later today.
The Chancellor took the decision to eliminate the 45% tax rate on incomes above £150,000, which is the most contentious provision of the mini-budget, without consulting the Cabinet.
However, the prime minister said that she had “learned” from the incidents and would keep working on her strategy to strengthen the economy.
I understand their concerns about what has transpired this week, she said Ms. Kuenssberg.
I acknowledge that the ground should have been better prepared.
“I’ve learnt from it, and I’ll make sure that going forward we build the groundwork better,” the speaker said.
However, when asked whether the government is considering reducing public expenditure to help balance the budget, the PM sidestepped the issue. She said that the Chancellor will instead make those facts public in the next months.