In the race to become the next prime minister of Britain, Liz Truss beat Rishi Sunak.
After a summer-long internal campaign ignited by Boris Johnson’s departure in July, she defeated her competitor, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, by 81,326 votes to 60,399 votes. Liz Truss will become Britain’s third female prime minister.
After spending the summer gaining support from the Conservative Party members who voted the deciding vote, foreign minister Truss and her opponent, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, the outcome was made public at 12:30 pm (5 pm IST).
Truss has long been considered the favourite to succeed Johnson, and if chosen, he would be the party’s fourth prime minister since the 2015 election. Over that time, the nation has been tossed from crisis to crisis, and now confronts what is expected to be a protracted recession brought on by skyrocketing inflation that peaked in July at 10.1%.
Among the estimated 200,000 Tory members who are eligible to vote, the 47-year-old has routinely outperformed Mr. Sunak, 42, in polls.
After being embroiled in a controversy for several months, Boris Johnson was compelled to announce his resignation in July. On Tuesday, he will fly to Scotland to present his resignation to Queen Elizabeth. He will be succeeded by someone who will be tasked with forming a government.
Opposition lawmakers claim that Truss’ lengthy, expensive, and challenging to-do list is the result of 12 years of ineffective Conservative rule. Many have demanded an early election, which Truss has stated she will not permit.
The challenges she would face as prime minister were “probably the second most difficult brief of post-war prime ministers,” according to veteran Conservative lawmaker David Davis in 1979.
It could cost tens of billions of pounds, he said, adding that “I actually don’t think any of the candidates, not one of them going through it, really knows quite how big this is going to be.”
Given that she was not the most well-liked candidate among her party’s lawmakers, the Institute for Government claimed that Truss would have a weaker starting point than any of her predecessors.
She will start by addressing the pressing problem of rising energy prices. The average annual household utility bill is expected to increase by 80% in October to 3,549 pounds, before rising to 6,000 pounds in 2023, which will have a devastating impact on people’s personal finances.
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