Liz Truss becomes the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Members of the British Conservative Party have it It is determined by voting. Truss, the current Foreign Secretary, received more than 81,000 votes (57.4 percent) and was able to outperform former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who received about 60,000 votes. The victory is expected: Truss has been leading in the opinion polls for weeks.
After winning the leadership race, Truss said in a speech to Conservative Party members that she would work on a number of issues on which she campaigned. She promised to develop a plan to reduce taxes and stimulate economic growth. “I will address the energy crisis, I will address people’s energy bills, but I will also address the long-term problems we have with energy supply,” Truss said.
Truss succeeds Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced last July, after a series of scandals, that he would leave office once the Conservative Party elected a new leader. In the British system, when a prime minister resigns, new elections are not held immediately: instead, the ruling political party is allowed to choose a new leader internally, and thus also the country’s prime minister.
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In this case, eight candidates initially ran in the elimination race, with only Truss and Sunak remaining at the end. About 160,000 conservatives, as conservatives are called, were allowed to vote as of last Friday. This represents about 0.3 per cent of the British electorate and about 82.6 per cent of Conservatives who voted. Truss is scheduled to leave with Prime Minister Johnson on Tuesday for Queen Elizabeth II, where he will tender his resignation.
Truss may owe this victory in part to her support for Johnson, who remains very popular among Conservatives. Sunak resigned from his government in early July in protest against a series of scandals under Johnson, such as the Partygate scandal, which were followed by the departure of several other Cabinet members. According to Sunak, Johnson was not honest, not even in his communications with citizens. Truss remained a minister.
She also campaigned on a number of topics important to conservatives: She wants to lower taxes and premiums in order to avoid a recession, she said. Truss also opposes the increase in Social Security contributions introduced in April and wants to reverse the corporate tax increase. Compensation for high inflation and energy prices for vulnerable households would not be available if it were up to Truss.
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