Liz Truss is named the new Prime Minister U.K. today after she defeated Rishi Sunak with 81,326 votes
Liz Truss was named the new Prime Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) today, i.e., Monday, September 5, 2022, after she defeated Rishi Sunak with 81,326 votes to 60,399 among party members
She will be taking over the leadership of U.K. amidst rising cost of living triggered by rising fuel cost, challenges of Brexit, industrial unrest and recession.
The outgoing Prime Minister – Boris Johnson will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth tomorrow, i.e., September 6, 2022, where he will tender his resignation. Truss will follow him and will be asked to form a Government by the monarch. She was working as Foreign Minister under the leadership of Johnson.
In her victory speech, she said, “Boris: you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine, and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle.”
She further said, “I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people. I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative.”
Taking it to twitter, she tweeted,
I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 5, 2022
Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country.
I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential. pic.twitter.com/xCGGTJzjqb
Johnson tweeted,
I have been proud to serve as leader of the Conservative Party for the last three years, winning the biggest majority for decades, getting Brexit done, overseeing the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe and giving vital support to Ukraine.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 5, 2022
Congratulating Truss, Johnson tweeted,
Congratulations to @trussliz on her decisive win. I know she has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country. Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 5, 2022
Sharing her views, the President of European Commission – Ursula von der Leyen tweeted,
Congratulations @trussliz.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 5, 2022
The EU and the UK are partners.
We face many challenges together, from climate change to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I look forward to a constructive relationship, in full respect of our agreements.
Truss will become the Conservatives’ fourth Prime Minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July 2022.
She said she will act quickly to tackle Britain’s cost of living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies. Truss had signaled during her leadership campaign she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies in a move some economists say would fuel inflation.
“We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years. I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply,” added Truss.
Britain has lagged other major European countries in its offer to support households in their energy bills. The opposition has blamed the Johnson Government for not doing enough to tackle the rising costs. In May 2022, the Government set out a £ 15 billion support package to help households with energy bills as part of its £ 37 billion cost-of-living support scheme. In France, the increase in electricity bills is capped at 4% and Germany has also announced a € 65 billion scheme to help its people survive the rising energy costs.
