With just 45 days in office, Liz Truss has resigned as UK prime minister , because she could not deliver on her vision for low tax and high-growth economy.
She will step out of office next week Friday even as a tall order has gone out to anyone willing to take over from her to have at least 100″ MPs backing them to progress to the next stage.
Amid suggestions within the Conservative Party that disgraced predecessor of Truss to return, the Liberal Democrats are outraged.
According to a BBC report, they asked for Johnson to be barred.
Its Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper MP said:
Quote Message: The fact that Conservative MPs are even considering putting Boris Johnson back in Number 10 shows how out of touch they really are. They think there’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.
Quote Message: Boris Johnson was forced to resign in disgrace after countless lies, scandals and failures. He shattered public trust in the government and plunged the UK into a political crisis. He must never be allowed near Downing Street again.
The future of our country should be in the hands of voters, not the Conservative MPs who have caused all this chaos.
The future of our country should be in the hands of voters, not the Conservative MPs who have caused all this chaos.
But the Labour Party, through its leader, Keir Starmer, called for a general election amid an economic crisis caused by what he described as the “chaos” of the Conservative Party.
“This cannot continue. Britain deserves better. Britain cannot afford the chaos of the Conservatives anymore.
“We need a general election now,” Starmer told parliamentarians.
Truss said in a statement outside Downing Street., “We set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of Brexit.”
“I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to announce that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.”
Her full statement reads:
“I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability.
“Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.
‘Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent. And our country has been held back for too long by low economic growth.
‘I was elected by the Conservative Party with a mandate to change this – we delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance.
‘And we set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.
‘I recognise though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.
‘I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.
‘This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. We have agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week.
‘This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.
‘I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen.
Labour says it has a manifesto ready to go for when there’s a general election and a return of Boris Johnson would “add insult to injury for the public”, Sir Keir Starmer has told the the BBC Newscast podcast.
The leader of the opposition said: “There’s a manifesto that is going to be ready whenever an election is called.”
He added: “I’ve had a team working on that. I’ve had a team working on general election preparedness. We’ve moved our teams onto a general election footing.”
Asked whether he wouldn’t mind facing Boris Johnson again, Sir Keir said: “No. I share the view that he was unfit for office.”
“So if they’re going to go from this experiment, this chaos, this economic damage, [and] wind back three months to a man who was deemed to be unfit for office, I think that only adds insult to injury for the public [who will be] knocking on the door saying, ‘Hang on, why can’t we have a say on this?'”
Thank you.’