Liz Truss says she was ‘completely blindsided’ as she is quizzed over disastrous mini-budget

Former prime minister Lizz Truss said she was “completely blindsided” by the UK’s pension market prior to her disastrous mini-budget.

Ms Truss appeared on ITV’s Peston show on Wednesday (17 April), where she admitted she and Kwasi Kwarteng - who was chancellor under Ms Truss’s government - didn’t know the “extent of the vulnerability” of the pensions market prior to their mini-budget in September 2022.

The mini-budget included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts and was followed by days of turmoil on the markets, a fall in the value of the pound and rises in the cost of UK government borrowing and mortgage rates.

Ms Truss said: "I didn't know about it and Kwasi didn't know about it either. So we were completely blindsided."