LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – After beating Rishi Sunak in the fiercely contested Conservative leadership race, Liz Truss will take office as Britain’s next prime minister.
The foreign secretary won 81,326 votes against the former chancellor who got 60,399 votes.Â
The country is currently under pressure from the cost of living crisis, which is causing households to struggle to pay their energy bills this winter. As a result, the victory’s euphoria will rapidly give way to the harsh reality of the economic hardships that lie ahead.
Within a week of taking office, Truss has promised to make household support measures public. Allies are reportedly talking about a ÂŁ100 billion package that might include freezing energy bills. Despite the fact that an increase in national insurance favours the wealthy more than others, she has already promised to reverse it.
Following the announcement on Tuesday, Truss vowed a “bold plan” to reduce taxes, boost the economy, and “deal with” the rising cost of energy as well as the longer-term energy supply. However, she did not provide any additional information on how she would achieve this.
The NHS is one of the many problems facing her government, and the fourth Tory prime minister in six years promised “we will deliver, we will deliver, and we will deliver.”
Importantly, Truss seemed to rule out a hasty general election when she promised to deliver a magnificent win for the Conservative party in 2024 to the central London crowd.
She knew that their principles—their beliefs in freedom, their ability to control their own lives, in low taxation, and personal accountability—resonate with the people of Britain, she said.
She knew that was why people voted for them in such large numbers in 2019, and as their party’s leader, she planned on delivering what was promised to those voters across their great country nation, she added.
Truss also complimented the departing leader, claiming that he was respected “from Kyiv to Carlisle,” possibly not realising that the Conservatives had lost the Carlisle council to Labour in May.
Within the first month, an emergency budget is anticipated outlining how she will support the economy in the face of persistently low growth, rising inflation, stagnant wages, and the very real possibility of a recession.
With the plate overflowing with difficult issues, including the NHS and ambulance services in crisis, the potential for an autumn of strikes, the war in Ukraine showing no signs of abating, and an ongoing dispute with Brussels on implementation of Brexit in Northern Ireland, her political honeymoon is likely to be short-lived.
Tuesday, Johnson will offer his resignation to the Queen at Balmoral, and shortly after, Truss will go see the queen at her Highland estate to ratify her appointment.
Then, after finishing up her first cabinet, she will fly back to London, where she is scheduled to give a speech to the country in front of No. 10 Downing Street.
As the third female prime minister of the United Kingdom, Truss is anticipated to name Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor, Suella Braverman as her home secretary and James Cleverly as her foreign secretary. Thérèse Coffey, an old friend, might succeed at the Ministry of Health, and Brandon Lewis is expected to lead the Department of Health.
Allies claim Sunak is ready to wait in the wings until history proves Truss incorrect about her plans to slash taxes instead of initially bringing inflation under control, thus he is not expected to accept a cabinet position. He hasn’t ruled out running for Tory leadership in the future.
On Wednesday morning, the new cabinet will convene for the first time before Truss, who channelled Margaret Thatcher during the leadership race and leaned to the right, takes Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, to task for her first prime minister’s questions.
