Britain’s new prime minister Liz Truss set to cut taxes

LIZ Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister after winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative Party yesterday, vowing to press ahead with promised tax cuts and action to tackle a deepening energy and cost of living crisis.

After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive leadership contest, Truss, currently the foreign minister and the favourite to win, beat former finance minister Rishi Sunak in a vote of Conservative Party members, winning by 81 326 votes to 60 399.

“I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy,” Truss said after the result was announced. “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.”

Truss takes over as the country faces a crunch on household finances, industrial unrest, a recession and war in Europe, where Britain has been a leading backer of Ukraine. She appeared to rule out another national election before 2024, when she promised to deliver a great victory for her party.

But in a sign of deep divisions in her party, her winning margin was much narrower than had been expected and the narrowest in any Conservative leadership election held this century. Truss also won with the support of less than 50% of members, as almost one in five did not vote.

“It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times,” Sunak said on Twitter.

Truss will succeed Boris Johnson, who was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandals saw support for his administration drain away and ministers quit to force him out. Johnson will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth today to officially tender his resignation. Truss will follow him and be asked to form a government by the monarch.

Truss, 47, has promised to come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and secure future fuel supplies. She signalled that she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies.