Neither a vaper nor a vegan be: Truss blasts Labour economic plans and rallies behind free enterprise

Treasury secretary Liz Truss will this morning attack Labour’s economic policies, lambasting shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s vision of “a control economy”.

She heralded free enterprise for driving down prices and creating jobs while “breaking down monopolies, hierarchies and outdated practices” in a speech at think tank the Policy Exchange.

Britons no longer need to be part of an “old boys network” to be successful in business.

However, she will say: “Recent news about all-male dinners, cosy cronyism and unfair pay show we have further to go.”

The former justice secretary hit out at Labour’s war on Uber and joked at opposition concerns over tech advancements.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Jeremy Corbyn is cooking up plans for a Bitcoin Miners’ Strike,” she said.

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Truss also warned on the “triple terrors” of shadow chancellor John McDonnell plans for nationalisation, hiking taxes and setting up new government authorities.

The Tory MP instead championed the 2013 privatisation of Royal Mail and the success of PFI contracts such as Crossrail.

“And when I travel around Britain, I see all sorts of businesses – from vape stores and vegan burger bars – starting up. Britain is booming with them,” she said.

Some see them as a flash in the pan retail trend. I see them as modern pioneers of British freedom. I am neither a vegan nor a vaper but I love living in a country where businesses and individuals can pursue their own dreams and desires with the minimum of interference.

“We have never had a more capable population with so many tools and so much information at their disposal.”

Truss continued: “An entire generation has grown up feeling the excitement and possibilities of Britain’s open, enterprise economy.”

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