Liz Truss wins Conservative Party leadership election
Liz Truss has won the Conservative Party leadership election and will become the UK’s fourth Prime Minister in six years.
She is expected to see the Queen at Balmoral tomorrow when she will officially take office and begin dealing with a catalogue of challenges including the energy crisis, inflation and the cost of living, Ukraine, and the ongoing impact of Brexit.
It ends a two-month period of campaigning since Boris Johnson’s resignation which has seen the Government largely step aside from taking decisions.
Truss came second to former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the fifth and final ballot of Conservative MPs, 113-137, but was a clear favourite of the membership securing 57% support from nearly 142,000 votes.
She has positioned herself as a low tax, pro-growth politician, and has been at best lukewarm on levelling-up or redistributive policies. But she has not yet been clear how she will seek to tackle the urgent economic challenges that threaten to swamp the finances of businesses and families alike in the coming months.
In her acceptance speech, Truss said: “”During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I’m going to govern as a Conservative. 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.”
She will appoint her Cabinet shortly. Kwasi Kwarteng to expected to be named as the fifth Chancellor in 38 months – a rate of change at Number 11 not seen for 100 years – with Jacob Rees-Mogg reported to be lined up as Business Secretary and Simon Clarke as Levelling-Up Minister.
Her rival for the leadership, Sunak, is not expected to take a Cabinet position while Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Oliver Dowden, Robert Jenrick are also expected to be left out.
Truss has been MP for South West Norfolk since 2010, having been unsuccessful standing in the West Yorkshire seats of Hemsworth in 2001 and Calder Valley in 2005.
She has held six roles in her eight years in Cabinet – at Environment, Justice, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, International Trade, Women and Equalities, and Foreign Secretary.
Truss, 47, is the first Prime Minister to be born in the 1970s, although she is three years older than Tony Blair and David Cameron were when they took office.
But unlike Blair and Cameron, the last two Prime Ministers to enter office following a general election victory, Truss must plot a way forward by leading a party that has already been in power for 12 years.
Henri Murison, chief executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: “The lesson from the Boris Johnson era has been the rhetoric of levelling up needs to be matched by delivery.”
“On Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 we need to see the full network, connecting Bradford on the new line to Manchester and ensuring Hull and Sheffield are better connected to Leeds as well as opening them up to the West onwards towards Manchester Airport and Liverpool.”
“Building on the new devolution deal for North Yorkshire and York, we need in the short term more of the funding currently spent by Whitehall like on post 19 skills devolved to all those Metro Mayors who have the capability and capacity as soon as practicable. This needs to be as well as a further new deal with powers and funding for the North Bank of the Humber.”
Ben Dorks, CEO of Nottinghamshire-headquartered global software business Ideagen, said: “The immediate focus for the new Prime Minister has to be the cost-of-living crisis, which is impacting every inch of society. Longer term I’d like to see policies that enable British businesses to remain competitive globally, leading to jobs and growth, plus a commitment to initiatives that promote greater social mobility and aspiration for young people, especially those from lower income communities.”
Joanne Anderson, Liverpool Mayor, said: “After a contest that has dragged on for far too long, I hope that Liz Truss is now able to get on with the job and focus on the stark problems affecting the country.
“With inflation set to remain in double digits and energy prices soaring, she needs to turn her attention to putting together real and significant support to help families, business and community organisations.”
