Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s understanding of the economy was questioned as she rejected suggestions that Liz Truss’s time as prime minister helped fuel inflation.
The Conservative minister sparred over the issue with Sky News anchor Matt Barbet, with both appearing to cast doubt on each other’s knowledge.
Ms Keegan, when told about a jump in inflation under the Government, replied: “Well, you can thank Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine for that.”
Told some people would thank Ms Truss for that, Ms Keegan replied: “No, well, that’s not true.
“If you look all over the world, Liz Truss was nothing to do with other countries where the inflation rate went up in exactly the same way.
“So, you have to be honest and you have to understand economics as well.
“The energy spike – which caused a huge spike in inflation – has now very quickly, probably a year ahead of schedule, (gone) down to 2%, which is normal, and that’s a year ahead of schedule, and I think that’s a lot to do with the restraint that we’ve shown in terms of spending.”
Mr Barbet countered: “If you understood economics, you’d know that it’s actually got a lot to do with the Bank of England, which is independent of the Government, in the way they manage interest rates. That’s the real reason why inflation has come down if you’re economically literate.”
Ms Keegan said the Bank of England looks at “all the economic factors and all the prices”, adding: “The fact that the energy price spiked is why it went up, the fact the energy price was then brought down due to lots of other measures being put in place and lots of other supply opening up was why it then fed into them making the decision to put it down, but it’s not just energy but other things as well.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was appointed in the wake of the 2022 mini-budget that shocked the UK economy, last week said it is not “fair” to claim there is “sustained economic scarring” from Ms Truss’s time in No 10.
