Liz Truss Resigns: What next?

Britain Prime Minister Liz Truss announced that she will be quitting her posing, under growing pressure from Conservative MPs. Her budgetary plans, at the heart of which were unfunded tax cuts, deeply rattled markets and led to the replacement of the Chancellor days ago. The country has been through the summer and early autumn of political chaos and economic turmoil. After only 45 days in office, Ms Truss’s anticipated resignation made her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

Why has Liz Truss resigned?

Truss became prime minister on September 6 after being elected the head of the Conservative Party and winning the confidence of her party. In her address outside Downing Street on Thursday, she said she could not deliver on the mandate she was elected on. She had therefore notified King Charles III of her resignation as the Tory leader. The election of the new Conservative leader would be completed within the next week. She would remain PM until her successor had been chosen.

The Pressure had been building up.

Truss’s announcement came after she met the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs as more Tories called for her to quit. Britain’s interior minister Suella Braveman quit her post on Wednesday. Becoming the second senior cabinet minister to depart within a week after Kwasi Kwarteng, the finance minister was sacked last Friday. Braveman resigned over a “technical” breach of government rules. And also criticised Prime Minister Truss, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government”. Kwarteng’s resignation has been over the impact of the financial plan, which led to massive market volatility.

It is again back to Zero in the UK.

Senior cabinet members’ resignations, followed by the Prime Minister’s resignation- this same pattern of events had been witnessed in July as well. Johnson’s senior ministers, Rishi Sunak and then health minister Sajid Javid, had resigned after it seemed that the then-prime minister would not be able to storm the public crises his administration was facing. His handling of the COVID-19 crisis and his breach of Covid protocol seemed to build disenchantment against the PM. In Truss’s case, while it is not her personal conduct that has come into question, public anger erupted regarding the economic policies which she introduced.

What next for the UK, and who becomes the PM?

Truss is the fourth Tory PM- after David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson-who have resigned before the end of their term. Then is Rishi Sunak next? or is the Labour party to enter again?

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said “the Conservative party has shown it no longer has the mandate to govern. After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos”. He said the Conservatives have left the country “weaker and worse off”. Keir Starmer has now promised that-

“As your Prime Minister, I will deliver the stability and leadership Britain needs.

Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan will create millions of jobs in the industries of the future, bring energy bills down, tackle climate change and grow our economy.  

As part of it, we will create a publicly owned, clean energy company, GB Energy, so that Britain won’t have to face another energy crisis like the one we are in now.  

This is our strong, secure and fair plan that benefits everyone: 

For our economy. 

For growth. 

For working people. 

After 12 years of Tory failure, Britain deserves better.

Only Labour can give the country the fairer, greener future we all need. “