As of the 5th of September, Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party leader and thus now holds the role of Prime Minister. She beat out her opponent Rishi Sunak by about 21,000 votes, or 57% of the eligible voters of the Conservative Party.
This vote was held after former PM Boris Johnson resigned his post back in July after a string of scandals including breaking Covid lockdown rules and wrongdoings of close party members including Chris Pincher and Owen Paterson. In her acceptance speech, Truss thanked Johnson and referred to him as her ‘friend’.
Truss as PM
In the UK, the biggest issues at the moment are the incoming energy crisis, battling rising inflation and preventing a looming recession.
Truss has promised to tackle the energy crisis through freezing energy prices, as there is ‘no justification for not freezing [them]’. A £100bn plan was proposed by energy companies to keep prices stable. As winter nears, action must be taken so British citizens can face the winter cold without emptying their wallets.
The economic environment will also pose a challenge for Truss. High inflation, a tighter labour market and an increasingly unaffordable cost of living must be remedied. Truss has promised to cut taxes, slash government spending (by suspending the green levy, among others) and implanting more conservative monetary policy.
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