–Home Secretary Tops Rival Rishi Sunak, Gaining 57% in a Ballot of Conservative Party Members
By Laurie Laird
LONDON (MaceNews) – UK Home Secretary Liz Truss is poised to become the country’s next prime minister after topping former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in a poll of Conservative party members.
As leader of the party, Truss will take over the premiership on Tuesday, replacing the incumbent, Boris Johnson. Johnson resigned in July after scores of ministers deserted the government after a string of scandals.
Truss garnered 57% of the vote after maintaining a sizable lead in polls of party members throughout the drawn-out campaign. However, Sunak was supported by significantly-larger number of Conservative parliamentarians in preliminary ballots to derive a short-list of two candidates to face the party.
Conservative party members – who number 172,000 — tend to be wealthier than the wider electorate, and the Truss campaign relied heavily on promises of tax cuts and a pledge to eschew government “handouts.”
However, the incoming prime minister has attempted to broaden her appeal in recent days, acknowledging the need for the next government to address soaring energy and food prices.
Under the UK’s regulatory system, average household fuel bills will rise to £3,600 in October, an 80% increase over the price cap implemented in April, lifting already-high inflation. The Bank of England expects consumer price inflation to top 13% by the autumn, although private forecasters have predicted a surge to 18% or more by early next year.
Outgoing Prime Minister Johnson will fly to Balmoral in Scotland on Tuesday to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II. Truss will travel separately to receive an invitation from the monarch to lead the next government.
Truss is scheduled to give a short speech upon her return to London late Tuesday afternoon, with numerous UK media outlets reporting that the new prime minister could announce a freezing of fuel bills. Her campaign has declined to comment on such reports.
Truss is expected to name Kwasi Karteng, a former business secretary, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the nation’s top finance official. He has suggested that he’ll unveil a new budget in weeks to come.
UK output contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter, with the Bank of England forecasting the economy to fall into recession by the fourth quarter, with the downturn stretching for five quarters.