The Conservatives announced their new leader and Prime Minister of the U.K. Liz Truss has become head of the government, defeating her rival, Rishi Sunak. What awaits her?
Liz Truss has become the U.K.’s fourth prime minister since 2016, when the Brexit vote forced the resignation of David Cameron, Financial Times wrote.
The foreign minister defeated ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, winning 81,326 votes of the Conservatives, while her rival won 60,399.
On Tuesday, September 6, Truss is meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, and after that she’ll immediately come back to London to address the nation from Downing Street and announce her cabinet.
Before becoming Prime Minister, Truss had been working in the U.K. Cabinet for around 10 years, holding positions such as Secretary of State for Justice, Secretary of State for Environment, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
What problems will Liz Truss face as Prime Minister?
Liz Truss will face numerous problems of an almost unprecedented level in recent decades, including two-digit inflation, the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine, and a wave of strikes.
"The successor to Boris Johnson will need to move fast to get to grips with policy challenges of huge proportions," the newspaper writes.
Another problem is the healthcare crisis: about 6.7 million people are awaiting non-emergency hospital treatment, while a further 1.4 million people in need of mental health treatment haven’t received it yet.
Truss would also have to find tens of billions of dollars in order to fulfill her promises, including the non-increase and even decrease of taxes.
Will Liz Truss’s victory affect Britain’s support for Ukraine?
Earlier, we wrote about possible foreign policy problems in relations with the U.S. and France — Truss has been accused of being undiplomatic in her statements. At the same time, she calls for taking a harder stance on Russia and providing more support for Ukraine. This means that London’s policy in relations with Kyiv remains unchanged.
Meanwhile,in one of his final acts as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said he was going to call President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has by now refused to confirm whether he will remain in parliament.
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