Liz Truss says her government's 'controversial' economic plan is the 'right' one - despite market turmoil sparked by mini budget

Prime Minister Liz Truss has insisted the government’s tax-cutting measures are the “right plan” to get the economy growing in the face of rising energy bills, despite recent market turmoil.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's announcement of his mini-budget on Friday has been met with wide criticism and mounting calls – including from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – for a U-turn on some of the policies announced after the pound sunk to a record low of 1.03 against the US dollar on Monday.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England launched an emergency government bond-buying programme to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control and stave off a “material risk to UK financial stability”. But, in her first public comments since the mini-budget market chaos, Ms Truss defended Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s measures, insisting “urgent action” was needed, although she admitted the government’s decisions have been “controversial”.

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The Prime Minister told BBC Radio Leeds: “We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing, get Britain moving and also deal with inflation.

“Of course that means taking controversial and difficult decisions but I am prepared to do that as Prime Minister because what is important to me is that we get our economy moving, we make sure that people are able to get through this winter and we are prepared to do what it takes to make that happen.”

The FTSE 100 Index has also been hit by market volatility amid the bond sell-off and wider global recession fears, falling by more than 2%at one stage in early trading on Thursday after a