Words by Megan Huws
On the 20th of October 2022, Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister, after the shortest premiership in British history. In the brief but eventful 45 days that she was in office, which is shorter than the leadership contest that allowed her to be Prime Minister, she mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth II and celebrated the coronation of King Charles III. Also, together with Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, she introduced her mini-budget, which managed to crash the pound and create discontent amongst those struggling through the cost-of-living crisis. 
During her election campaign Truss promoted her ÔÇÿbold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy’, encouraging the conservative party to vote for her dramatic tax cuts and radical ideas. With KwartengÔÇÖs support, she formulated her ÔÇÿmini-budgetÔÇÖ aiming to drastically improve the UKÔÇÖs economy.┬á
Despite her idealistic economic ideas and her no-handout policy, reality hit when she was elected Prime Minister. One of her first announcements was Energy Bill Support, which planned to give immediate help to households in the UK by providing a ┬ú400 discount to eligible households. Whilst this support aimed to help the public with the cost-of-living crisis, the introduction of her mini-budget caused disapproval within the working classes. The main criticism of this budget was the announcement that the 45% income tax for earnings over ┬ú150,000 is abolished for English, Welsh, and Northern Irish taxpayers. This budget, which would have had to have been funded by borrowing, was met with criticism, especially at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. Thousands took to the streets of Birmingham, organised by the Midlands TUC and PeopleÔÇÖs Assembly, with protesters heard yelling ÔÇÿTory ScumÔÇÖ at Jacob Rees Mogg as he was escorted by the West Midlands Police.┬á
This was followed by the government announcing a U-turn on the tax rate cut, meaning that high earners will continue to tax at 45% on their income in excess of ┬ú150,000. After the chaos and failure of September’s mini-budget, Truss sacked Chancellor Kwarteng, despite common knowledge that they worked on this budget together.
Truss was slowly losing the support of the public and her MPs. The final straw was the chaos on Wednesday the 19th of October when a Labour motion which would have forced a vote on a bill to ban fracking had been defeated. This vote was initially treated as a ÔÇÿconfidence motionÔÇÖ, yet┬á many MPs signalled that they would not take part in the vote, resulting in confusion as to if it was. This was the final moment showing TrussÔÇÖs weak leadership.┬á
In her resignation speech, she explained that she ÔÇÿcannot deliver on the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party’. To avoid another divisive leadership campaign, Rishi Sunak was the only candidate with secure support and therefore was elected Prime Minister on the 24th of October 2022. In his election speech, Sunak thanked Liz Truss and noted his success with the furlough during the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasises that ÔÇÿThis government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.’┬á
Despite this confident speech, the public questions if a man who was included in the Sunday Times Rich List should be Prime Minister when so many are suffering from the cost of living crisis. Keir Starmer claims ÔÇÿthe British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. In the past few years, the Tories have set record-high taxation, trashed our institutions and created a cost of living crisis.ÔÇÖ Furthermore, the SNPÔÇÖs Westminster leader Ian Blackford directly says ÔÇÿmerely swapping leaders of a broken Tory government is not enough. There must now be a general election ÔÇô people will accept nothing less.ÔÇÖ┬á
The country will now be waiting to see if SunakÔÇÖs election will mark a change towards success for the Conservative party or just another step towards its downfall.
