Sir Keir Starmer has mocked Liz Truss for ducking an urgent question on the economy in the Commons, saying ”the lady is not for turning – up”.
Responding to Penny Mordaunt, the Labour leader thanked her for answering the question, adding: “I guess under this Tory government, everybody gets to be prime minister for 15 minutes.”
Politics live: Jeremy Hunt shreds Liz Truss’ economic strategy
He continued: “Mr Speaker, the country is in an economic crisis made in Downing Street because they’ve lost all credibility.
“Government borrowing costs have soared, mortgage rates have ballooned. Markets need reassuring and there is long-term damage that can’t be undone.”
He added: “Once you’ve crashed the car 100 miles an hour, you’ve damaged it for good and you’re going to be paying much more on your insurance for years to come. And it’s working people who will pay.”
Sir Keir accused the PM of “hiding away” and said she was “scared of her own shadow”.
“The lady’s not for turning – up,” he quipped, to jeers from the Opposition.
Commons Leader Ms Mordaunt said she was deputising for Ms Truss because the prime minister “is detained on urgent business”.
It comes as Liz Truss fights for her political life after new chancellor Jeremy Hunt ditched the bulk of the economic strategy that brought her into office just six weeks ago.
In an emergency statement designed to calm the markets, Mr Hunt announced the support for household energy bills would be scaled back and “almost all” the tax cuts promised by his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng would be reversed.
Sir Keir said the prime minister has no mandate, saying instead of leadership there is a “vacuum”.
He told the Commons: “Now is a time for consistent messaging. But what do we get? A prime minister saying absolutely no spending reductions, a chancellor saying there will be cuts. A Prime Minister saying she’s in charge, a Chancellor who thinks he’s the CEO and she’s just the chair.
“How can Britain get the stability it needs when the prime minister has no mandate from her party and no mandate from the country?”
She defended the prime minister’s decision to sack Mr Kwarteng, a long-standing friend and ally, saying it was the “right thing to do” and “it took courage”.
She added that questions raised on economic policy will be answered by Mr Hunt, who is due to address the Commons shortly.
Earlier, the Treasury said the new tax measures would bring in £32bn after economists estimated the government was facing a £60bn black hole in public finances with the mini-budget announcements last month.
Ms Truss is now fighting to save her premiership amid reports of plots to oust her, while a small number of Tory MPs have publicly called for her to go.
Senior Tory backbencher Sir Charles Walker said Liz Truss’s position is “enormously precarious”.
Ms Truss will meet the moderate One Nation Conservatives group in parliament on Monday evening before an informal reception with her cabinet.