Opinion: 'If Liz Truss becomes PM I hope she develops sensible polices, I doubt she will', writes Shaz Nawaz

We are one day away from finding out who the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will be.

There is a certain symmetry about it: just as deck chairs are being folded up and vacationers depart summer beaches, we will know who will be steering the ship of state through the autumn and winter.

All indications are the next Prime Minister will be Liz Truss.

I suspect there will be a brief fanfare as she enters 10 Downing Street, flattering biographies will appear in some newspapers.

However, let’s put it this way: w ould you entrust Liz Truss with posting a letter via Recorded Delivery, let alone with running the country?

Hitherto, she has been notable for her gaffes, her odd, stilted address to a Tory conference about opening up pork markets, to her peculiar photo shoots, ranging from a homage to Thatcher riding in a tank to her sitting in a garden beneath a tree, almost as if she was posing for a Da Vinci portrait in oils.

This is the person that tiny Tory electorate has said can guide us through these troubled times.

Her answer for anything is tax cuts and “growth”

While it is slightly before my time, a “dash for growth” was attempted by Edward Heath’s government in the 1970s.

It was thought that this would solve the British economy’s issues. It didn’t. Indeed, Heath faced industrial unrest and was booted out of office in February 1974.

Tax cuts are not going to solve the problem.

I know it’s comforting for some Tories to think that tax cuts, rolling back the state, will somehow make things better. The problem, however, is not the presence of the state, but it is a lack of an effective state. We need the state to make the market work.

‘Many great leaders past and present had right idea’

They recognised that aggregation of too much economic power into too few corporate hands was making life unbearable for the poor.

They invested a great deal of effort in breaking their grip. These ideas formed the basis of the Progressive movement across much of the world.

Are the Tories looking at the present concentration of economic power and thinking how it can be democratised via “trust busting” or nationalisation? No.

They are resorting to cheap slogans blaming “green” policies and calling for yet more tax cuts, even though more cash won’t solve a supply side problem.

Liz Truss has embraced this because they represent the dreams of her target audience, not because they solve the problems we face.

It's back to school and back from holidays time. As the days grow shorter, the nights will grow colder.

Problems hidden by the warmth of the summer sun will come to the fore when we must switch the heating on and find we can’t afford to do so.

It may be a chilly winter of hacking coughs and condensation inside windows, blankets wrapped around shoulders, meagre meals and trips to the food bank for warmth as well as sustenance.

Liz Truss is likely the Prime Minister who will be dealing with all this. I hope she develops sensible polices. I doubt she will.