Some of Liz Truss’ plans will infuriate and infuriate, but they are intended to save us from the winter meltdown caused by Putin

ACCORDING to an on-site Q&A session, the thousands who happily filed past the Queen’s coffin last week were a perfect cross section of the national profile – age, race, gender and social background.

These citizens, some on foot for 24 hours, some in wheelchairs, were there not just to mourn their sovereign, but to express their gratitude for her lifetime of tireless service.

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Queen Elizabeth II embodied the wartime motto printed on every souvenir mug and tea towel in London today: “Keep Calm And Carry On”.

That’s exactly what Prime Minister Liz Truss has been trying to do since Boris Johnson handed over the baton just hours before the Queen’s death.

However, this will not be a “Continuity BoJo” regime. We are witnessing a Thatcher-style revolution.

Liz Truss promises to sweep away more than a decade of Tory tremors over the decline of the public sector, policing, illegal immigration, NHS failure and classroom chaos.

From the howls of fury from the Labor Left and the Guard Brigade, she is already succeeding.

The green tax on energy bills – “a rich man’s tax on poor people” – will be scrapped or suspended.

So whoever buys one gets a free ban and the sugar tax.

Fracking brings the all-clear. North Sea oil will flow again.

Nothing should stand in the way of heating and eating.

Watch for cuts in government salaries and savings in public spending, not the least of which is the grotesquely expensive HS2 rail line.

And a dozen new low-tax investment zones to breathe life into Boris’ leveling-up agenda.

New Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has shown his teeth by sacking orthodox finance chief Sir Tom Scholar, the ‘Blob’s Blob’, and signing hot mandarine Antonia Romeo for the job.

Massive bazooka

The goal from now on is to free the UK from clunky EU rules, onerous taxes and biting environmental and planning laws and give the UK economy wings.

The measures will be unveiled daily leading up to Friday’s mini-budget, in time to eclipse Labour’s bickering annual rally which opens in Liverpool this weekend.

Government needs a massive bazooka to pull the UK economy out of trouble, unleash new growth and convince global investors that we mean business.

That means a squandering of £150billion to limit energy bills, protect vulnerable households and prevent healthy high street giants from going bust.

A further £30bn will reverse the rise in social security contributions and halt corporate tax hikes.

And the Chancellor reportedly has another secret bazooka – a “rabbit out of a hat” that could include a cut in the standard tax rate or the pound’s chunky 40p for middle earners. Or a promise to do both.

In the coming weeks, ministers will unveil plans to repair shoddy public sector provision, from jails to passports, from illegal immigration to housing and planning.

Some of their plans will infuriate the grassroots Tories who voted for Liz almost as much as they infuriate Labor and the Lib Dems.

But taken as a package, they are designed to save the UK economy from a full-blown Putin-caused winter meltdown.

Unlike many other EU economies, including Germany, the UK is unlikely to experience blackouts this winter.

“But we have to act quickly,” warns a city expert.

Deep slump

“The economy is weakening faster than expected. Retail sales are alarming, costs are rising, sales are falling and getting worse by the day.”

And we have been slow to implement fundamental steps to contain inflation.

The sluggish Bank of England delayed a rate hike last week out of respect for Her Majesty. The financially astute queen might have guessed differently.

It’s an emergency.

Bank Governor Andrew Bailey needs to pull his finger out, stay ahead of the curve and raise interest rates sharply in line with the rest of the western world.

A recession might still be inevitable.

But measures like this will decide whether it will be short and shallow – or long and deep.

To quote war leader Winston Churchill: “This is no time for ease and comfort. It’s time to dare and persevere.”