“They created a media storm and demanded Liz Truss resign—for less than what we’re seeing now.”
UK government borrowing costs have quietly surged past the levels that triggered a political and media firestorm in 2022… yet this time, there is no panic, no headlines, and no action from the Bank of England.
As of 10 July 2025, the yield on 10-year UK gilts stands at approximately 4.60%, with long-dated yields now exceeding 5%, levels not seen since the late 1990s. This marks a significant rise from the October 2022 spike that followed then Prime Minister Liz Truss’s Growth Plan, yet the reaction from institutions and the media is strikingly muted.
THEN: October 2022 – Outrage and Panic
When the Truss government announced its pro-growth fiscal package in September 2022, including sweeping tax cuts and investment incentives, the market reaction was immediate and aggressive:
- Gilt yields surged by nearly 300 basis points.
- The pound plummeted to historic lows.
- The Bank of England intervened with emergency bond purchases to stabilise markets.
- Media coverage was overwhelmingly negative, with “Trussonomics” widely derided as reckless.
Within weeks, Truss was forced to resign, her policies dismantled, her premiership cut short.
NOW: July 2025 – Higher Yields, Deafening Silence
Today, under the Labour government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, gilt yields are even higher than during the Truss episode, but the institutional response has been starkly different:
- No Bank of England emergency intervention.
- No headlines about a fiscal crisis.
- No pressure for resignation or policy reversal.
Instead, the prevailing narrative cites “global headwinds”, including U.S. Federal Reserve tightening and geopolitical instability, as the cause. The Bank of England continues with its programme of quantitative tightening, having made only minor tactical changes such as postponing a gilt auction earlier this year.
A Glaring Double Standard
The contrast is unmistakable. In 2022, aggressive institutional and media backlash followed a bold fiscal approach aimed at growth. In 2025, more severe economic indicators are met with silence.
The fiscal position today is arguably more fragile:
- The government now spends over £100 billion annually on debt interest.
- Inflation remains persistently above target.
- Growth forecasts are stagnant, with business investment slowing.
Yet these conditions have not led to calls for accountability or leadership change, raising uncomfortable questions about the objectivity of Britain’s economic and political gatekeepers.
“It Was Never About the Numbers”
Conservative Post Editor and Great British PAC Director Claire Bullivant offered a scathing assessment of the disparity:
“They created a media storm and demanded Liz Truss resign—for less than what we’re seeing now. It was never about the numbers; it was about protecting the establishment. Today, gilt yields are higher, debt costs are spiralling, yet there’s silence from the same institutions that screamed in 2022. Liz Truss dared to challenge a stagnant consensus with bold reforms—and for that, they took her down. The Great British public deserves to know: this wasn’t about economics, it was about control.”
In Defence of Truss
The data now speaks clearly. The bond market volatility of 2022 was not unique to Liz Truss’s programme, it was a symptom of systemic vulnerabilities in a high-debt, low-growth economy. The very thing the Truss government was addressing. The difference in response appears to lie not in the numbers, but in the politics.
Truss’s plan to rebalance the economy with lower taxes and higher growth disrupted an entrenched orthodoxy. While her delivery and timing were criticised, her strategic intent aligned with what many economists now see as necessary reform.
A Moment of Reckoning?
As the UK faces the fiscal consequences of long-term borrowing, high inflation, and weak productivity under Labour, the quiet acceptance of today’s high yields may prove more damaging than the loud reaction of 2022. The public deserves a transparent debate, not selective outrage.
Whether one agreed with Liz Truss or not, the silence in 2025 speaks volumes.
