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| UK set to be sick man of Europe, says Tory backer | UK set to be sick man of Europe, says Tory backer |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Guy Hands said the Conservative Party was not fit to run the country | Guy Hands said the Conservative Party was not fit to run the country |
| The UK is on a path to being "the sick man of Europe" because of the way Brexit was negotiated, according to a Tory backer. | The UK is on a path to being "the sick man of Europe" because of the way Brexit was negotiated, according to a Tory backer. |
| Guy Hands, who runs private equity firm Terra Firma and has been a Brexit critic, warned the UK faces higher taxes, lower benefits and a possible International Monetary Fund bailout. | Guy Hands, who runs private equity firm Terra Firma and has been a Brexit critic, warned the UK faces higher taxes, lower benefits and a possible International Monetary Fund bailout. |
| His comments come after a tumultuous period sparked by the mini-budget. | His comments come after a tumultuous period sparked by the mini-budget. |
| But Mr Hands suggested the problems facing the UK go back much further. | But Mr Hands suggested the problems facing the UK go back much further. |
| "I think [the Conservative Party has] got to move on from fighting its own internal wars and actually focus on what needs to be done in economy and admitting some of the mistakes they've made in the last six years which have frankly put this country on a path to be the sick man of Europe," he told the BBC's Today programme. | "I think [the Conservative Party has] got to move on from fighting its own internal wars and actually focus on what needs to be done in economy and admitting some of the mistakes they've made in the last six years which have frankly put this country on a path to be the sick man of Europe," he told the BBC's Today programme. |
| He added that the party was, in his view, not fit to run the country. | He added that the party was, in his view, not fit to run the country. |
| Pound gains as Rishi Sunak leads race to become PM | |
| UK faces tougher austerity era - ex-Bank chief | |
| Outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss's mini-budget, unveiled on 23 September, was blamed for causing turmoil on the financial markets. | |
| Sterling plunged to a record low against the dollar and government borrowing costs rose sharply in the aftermath of the statement, which promised major tax cuts without saying how they would be paid for. | |
| The IMF also openly criticised the UK government over its tax cutting plans, warning that the measures were likely to fuel the cost-of-living crisis. | |
| Last week, the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reversed most of the mini-budget, a move that was welcomed by the IMF. | |
| But Mr Hands indicated that much more needs to be done, in order to turn the economy around. | |
| "The reality is when they did Brexit, they had a dream. And the dream was a low-tax, low-benefit economy. Truss, to be fair to her, tried it but clearly it isn't something that's acceptable to the British people," he said. | |
| "Once you accept that you can't actually do that, then the Brexit that was done is completely hopeless, and will only drive Britain into a disastrous economic state. | |
| "So I think [if] the Tory party can own up to the mistake they made and how they negotiated Brexit and have somebody leading who actually has the intellectual capability and the authority to renegotiate Brexit, there is a possibility of turning around the economy, but without that the economy is frankly doomed." |