Liz Truss faced the wrath of Kent this morning as she was interviewed for the first time since the disastrous 'mini budget' sent the pound plummeting.

The economy is in turmoil following Kwasi Kwarteng's tax-cutting fiscal event on Friday.

Take our poll below

He abolished the top rate of tax - 45% for those paid more than £150,000 a year - cut the bottom rate from 20% to 19% and removed the cap on banker bonuses.

Huge new borrowing plans were also revealed.

Immediately after his speech in the House of Commons the pound went into freefall, reaching its lowest level against the dollar on record before a slight recovery.

Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund urged the government to reverse the changes before the Bank of England made an astonishing intervention, buying up government debt in a desperate bid to stop pension funds going bust.

But Liz Truss stuck by the plan after listeners of BBC Radio Kent asked her “What on earth were you thinking?”, “How can we ever trust the Conservatives again?" and “Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?"

She said "people are forgetting the problems the country was facing" and insisted the drastic action would "cut inflation by 5% this winter".

She was unable to elaborate on the evidence behind that claim. It is a lack of details and figures that have been blamed for throwing the markets into turmoil.

Because Friday's tax cuts were only billed as a 'fiscal event' rather than an actual budget the plan has not been automatically scrutinised by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Following the financial meltdown Mr Kwarteng announced he'd give more details on the government's thinking by publishing a medium-term financial plan on November 23. Critics say that will be far too late and clarification is needed now.

During the interview Ms Truss added her government has taken "decisive action" and when host Anna Cookson asked her: "Ms Truss, this is a crisis and many people are saying you've made it worse. Are you going to reverse these changes?" she responded: "I don't accept the premise of the question."

When asked about small boat crossings in the Channel Ms Truss said the government will take action to stop the European Court of Human Rights overruling its decisions on deportation and that the asylum crisis was a priority for new Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Following the fiery-if-brief exchange which lasted about four minutes Ms Cookson spoke to the chairman of Maidstone & Weald Conservatives, Sally-Ann Marks, who accused her of asking too many questions and for not referring to Ms Truss as PM.

She said she had faith in the economic plans but did have some concerns over parts of the strategy.

The reaction to Friday's 'mini budget' has led many to question whether Ms Truss could become the shortest-serving Prime Minister on record, with no confidence letters reportedly already handed in. She became PM on September 6.

Ms Truss was touring BBC local radio stations for whistle-stop interviews this morning and earlier told journalists urgent action was needed to get the economy growing.

She acknowledged the measures announced last week would take time to have an effect and sought to assure that the Chancellor was working “very, very closely” with Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey.

“We are facing very difficult economic times. We are facing that on a global level,” she said.

“Of course lots of measures we have announced won’t happen overnight. We won’t see growth come through overnight.

“What is important is that we are putting this country on a better trajectory for the long term.”

Meanwhile different government departments have reportedly been asked to draw up plans for efficiency savings aimed at reducing future borrowing.

It all comes just days before Tory MPs and thousands of members will descend upon Birmingham for Ms Truss’ first party conference as Prime Minister.

Some of the party’s “big beasts”, including defeated leadership candidate Rishi Sunak, are reportedly not attending the conference.