Liz Truss wages war against the climate change protesters, the 'enemies of enterprise'

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth

British Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed to fight against the “enemies of enterprise” who “prefer protesting to doing,” referring to climate change activists who made it a custom of blocking rush hour traffic all across the United Kingdom to protest against the country’s energy policies. 

In her first speech to the Conservative Party conference as leader, Truss dismissed critics of her tax cuts, and voiced her support for “those who go to work, take responsibility, and aspire to a better life.” 

Truss’ strong words are intended to send a loud but clear message to climate activists who have made themselves a nuisance to the British public by staging disruptive protests on British roadways, runways, and railways. 

The British public, especially those who voted for the Tories, were vocal in their disappointment with Boris Jonhson and his apparent inability to deal with the climate pests. 

In addition to declaring war on climate protesters, Truss voiced new policies, including the implementation of new rules to speed up house building, and a new law to block European judges from preventing the British government from deporting illegal immigrants who cross the English Channel. 

Truss’ actions and policy proposals have come as a surprise to many of her critics, who assumed that she would simply continue Boris Johnson’s anemic and often lackluster style of governance. 

The new Prime Minister faces some of the greatest challenges that Britain has faced since the Cold War. 

Truss has labeled some of her critics in the Conservative Party as the “anti-growth coalition” due to their pushback against her anti-taxation policies. 

“I will not allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back. Labour, the Lib Dems, and the SNP. The militant unions, the vested interests dressed up as think tanks,” she said, the Telegraph reported. 

“The talking heads, the Brexit deniers and Extinction Rebellion and some of the people we had in the hall earlier. The fact is they prefer protesting to doing,” she added. “They prefer talking on Twitter to taking tough decisions. They taxi from north London townhouses to the BBC studio to dismiss anyone challenging the status quo.”

“From broadcast to podcast, they peddle the same old answers. It’s always more taxes, more regulation and more meddling. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Later on in her speech, Truss took aim at her opponents in the left-wing Labour party, who have “no long-term plan and no vision for Britain,” and the left-wing SNP in Scotland. 

“Have these people ever seen a tax rise they don’t like? Or an industry they don’t want to control? They don’t understand the British people. They don’t understand aspiration,” she said.

Her remarks did not go well with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who referred to Truss’ speech as a “rant” on Twitter. 

Ranting about an imaginary ‘anti growth coalition’ is just an attempt to obscure the hard reality that the biggest brake on UK growth is Brexit - and that’s on the Tories.

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 5, 2022

“My friends, does this anti-growth coalition have any idea who pays their wages? It’s the people who make things in factories across our country,” said Truss. “It’s the people who get up at the crack of dawn to go to work. It’s the commuters who get trains into towns and cities across our country.”

“I’m thinking of the white van drivers, the hairdressers, the plumbers, the accountants, the IT workers and millions of others up and down the UK,” she continued. “The anti-growth coalition just doesn’t get it. This is because they don’t face the same challenges as normal working people. These enemies of enterprise don’t know the frustration you feel to see your road blocked by protesters, or the trains off due to a strike.”

“In fact, their friends on the hard left tend to be the ones behind the disruption. The anti-growth coalition think the people who stick themselves to trains, roads and buildings are heroes,” she said. 

“I say the real heroes are those who go to work, take responsibility and aspire to a better life for themselves and their family. And I am on their side,” Truss said.