As Prime Minister Liz Truss wilts, here’s what happens next in UK

A day after describing herself as a ‘fighter and not a quitter’ – famous last words indeed – Liz Truss has packed it in as UK prime minister.

This stunning development comes just 45 days after she took office, leaving Truss with the infamy of serving as Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister.

Truss, a libertarian who fervently believes in small government and free-market economics, came to office on 6 September  after 172,000 Conservative Party members voted in an internal leadership contest to pick a successor to the scandal-plagued Boris Johnson.

Truss was in many ways the opposite of the populist, people-pleasing Johnson. Serious and stiff as a public speaker, she called herself a “disruptor,” ready to upend existing economic “orthodoxy.” On the campaign trail, Truss, who was then foreign secretary, vowed to slash taxes and red tape “from day one,” boost investment and turn Britain’s faltering economy around.

Truss vowed a new era of growth while taking charge. But her plan saw markets free-fall, the pound nose-dive and her party in revolt.

For the 47-year-old, the nail in the coffin was losing support within the Conservative Party.

Let’s take a look at what happens next:

Oppn calls for general election

Labour has called for a general election with its leader Keith Starmer slamming the Tories for reaching a ‘chaotic, new low’.

“The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people,” Starmer, who has been serving as the Labour leader since 2020, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “They do not have a mandate to put the country through yet another experiment; Britain is not their personal fiefdom to run how they wish.”

“The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future. They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future. We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now,” the MP for Holborn and St Pancras added.

As per BBC, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has called a UK general election a “democratic imperative” and described the situation as ‘utter shambles’.

Sturgeon tweeted: “There are no words to describe this utter shambles adequately. It’s beyond hyperbole - and parody.

“Reality though is that ordinary people are paying the price. The interests of the Tory party should concern no-one right now.

“A general election is now a democratic imperative.”

Sturgeon wryly noted that she was yet to have a call or formal meeting with Truss, as per the report.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has also called for a general election, as per BBC.

“It’s right that Liz Truss has resigned. But in truth, this entire Conservative government must go. The next Tory Leader will have no mandate to be prime minister. We need a general election now,” Sarwar said.

General election unlikely

However, a general election isn’t likely anytime soon.

This is because under the British parliamentary system, the Conservative Party has till 2025 before it needs to call for a general election.

Which means Britain is set to get a new Tory prime minister – its third since December 2019 and its fifth since the Tories took power in 2010.

Recall that the previous general election was held on 12 December, 2019, with Parliament meeting five days later.

The UK Parliament has a maximum term of five years after the day it first met.

Which means it is scheduled to dissolve on 17 December, 2024.

Polling day would then be expected to take place 25 days later, meaning the latest possible date for an election is 24 January, 2025.

How can general elections be called?

The Conservative Party government can call for a general election.

As per the Parliament.uk website, the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 “revived the power of the monarch to dissolve Parliament, at the request of the prime minister of the day” when it replaced the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

But this is unlikely given that a recent survey showed Labour would thump the Conservative Party in a landslide should any such snap polls be conducted.

As per INews, another way a general election could be called is if the Opposition tables a no-confidence motion in the government.

This requires passage of a simple majority of the 650 MPs that make up the Commons.

A third, much less likely scenario goes thus – the King invites someone else to form a government.

But as per INews, this last occurred in January 1924 when King George V asked Ramsay MacDonald to form a Government after Stanley Baldwin lost a vote in January 1924.

Truss to remain caretaker PM, front-runners to replace Truss

Truss, meanwhile, is set to continue as caretaker prime minister.

Meanwhile, the list of front-runners to replace her goes as following:

Rishi Sunak

Truss easily beat the former chancellor of the exchequer in this summer’s Tory leadership contest, winning party members over with promises to slash taxes and regulations without curbing government spending. Sunak, 42, repeatedly warned that her plans to fund the proposals through extra borrowing were reckless and could worsen decades-high inflation as well as market confidence in the UK.

Now that he was proven entirely right — as Truss scrapped her plans and replaced her previous finance minister with the Sunak-backing Jeremy Hunt — some think he is the best-placed Conservative MP to become PM.

Sunak garnered the support of the largest number of Tory lawmakers in the early rounds of the recent leadership contest and is thought to still enjoy considerable support within the parliamentary party.

A YouGov poll on Tuesday found he has the best ratings of the touted alternatives to Truss — albeit still with an overall net favourability rating of -18.

But he is also now viewed as a divisive figure. Many party members, who get the final say on who leads the party, are unwilling to forgive him for his role in ousting ex-prime minister Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson

The former premier left office early last month after a revolt among his cabinet and Tory MPs, sparked by the resignation of Sunak and others from his faltering government following months of controversies.

Encouraged by several strong hints from Johnson himself, speculation has swirled ever since that he would attempt an eventual comeback — though few thought that could be feasible this quickly.

The ever-ebullient Brexit figurehead remains popular with a section of Conservative MPs and the party but his brand among the wider electorate was severely damaged by his scandal-tainted three-year tenure.

Tuesday’s YouGov poll showed the 58-year-old is far more popular than Truss. Yet around two-thirds of those asked had an unfavourable opinion of him.

Johnson has kept a low profile since resigning, giving a paid speech in the United States last week but no indications of his views on the current crises gripping the UK.

He was thought to favour Truss in the summer leadership contest — although his former top aide-turned-arch-critic Dominic Cummings argued that was because he expected her tenure to be disastrous and short-lived, paving the way for his return.

Jeremy Hunt

Hunt who was recently appointed as the finance minister by Truss has been a candidate in the Tories’ past two leadership contests. He lost in the final run-off in 2019 to Johnson and finished in last place in the first ballot of MPs this year.

But his appointment to the second most powerful job in government has returned the former foreign secretary from the political wilderness to centre stage, and his assured performance so far has bolstered his standing.

As Conservative MPs plot Truss’s ousting, some suggest Hunt — an ex-entrepreneur who garners most support from the centrist wing of the party — could emerge as a competent unity candidate.

But the 55-year-old would enjoy even less of a democratic mandate than most of the rival contenders, probably heightening calls for a general election which — based on current polling — the Tories would lose by a landslide.

Penny Mordaunt

The current cabinet member was an early favourite to succeed Johnson and came within eight votes of beating Truss to the run-off against Sunak.

The former defence and trade minister, who is popular with the Tories’ grassroots, was a strong Brexit supporter and a key figure in the 2016 “Leave” campaign.

But she faced criticism in the recent leadership race from Conservative colleagues, with some accusing her of being ineffective in previous government roles.

Mordaunt’s profile rose this week after she was sent out on Monday in place of Truss to answer an urgent question in parliament from the Labour Opposition about the recent economic turmoil.

Despite being forced to explain that the prime minister was “not under a desk” — in response to accusations that Truss was in hiding — Mordaunt was seen to have coped well with a febrile House of Commons.

Reports on Tuesday said a senior ally of the 49-year-old held private talks with Sunak last week about forming a unity ticket but the ex-finance minister rebuffed the offer because he does not want to be the junior partner.

With inputs from PTI

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