Liz Truss will become the UK’S next prime minister after winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative Party on Monday. She promised to press that she would cut down the taxes and action to tackle the deepening energy and cost of living crisis.
Truss beat her rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, by about 57 to 43 percent after a summer-long contest that just over 170,000 Conservative members decided. Truss polled 81,236 votes to Sunak’s 60,399. Sunak- who has been lukewarm about whether he would serve in Truss’s cabinet- tweeted that now was the time for the party to unite as “one family”.
But Truss ignored her applauding rival as she walked up to the central London convention hall stage, calling it an honor to be elected.
She vowed a “bold plan” to address tax cuts and the energy crisis, which she indicated will be financed by much higher borrowing – even at the risk of stoking double-digit inflation.
Truss, 47, will be the UK’s third woman to become prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher.
Congratulatory messages soon started to pour in after the announcement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said under her leadership, the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will be further strengthened. “Congratulations @trussliz for being chosen to be the next PM of the UK. Confident that under your leadership, the India-UK ties will further get strengthened. Wish you the very best in your new role and responsibilities”, PM Modi tweeted.
The announcement begins the start of a handover from Borris Johnson, who was forced to resign in July after months of scandal that saw support for his administration drain away. He will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth to tender his resignation officially. Truss will follow him and be asked to form the government by the monarch.
