He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and that there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. Truss soon fired Kwarteng, and his replacement, Jeremy Hunt, scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, cut short her energy subsidies and abandoned her promise of no public spending cuts. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk. The notion of massive borrowing to finance tax cuts hammered the value of the pound and caused interest rates on U.K. Truss’ political unraveling began after she and her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, unveiled an economic plan with 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts. “This is doing huge damage to our economy and the reputation of our country,” he said. Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of presiding over “utter chaos.” A national election doesn’t have to be called until 2024, but opposition parties demanded one be held now, saying the government lacks democratic legitimacy. Whoever succeeds Truss will become the country’s third prime minister this year. Truss had served as Johnson’s foreign secretary. The Conservative Party spent the summer picking a replacement as the economy worsened amid spiking energy prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Johnson’s government came undone after he was revealed to have held a series of parties in government buildings at a time when people in Britain were barred from mingling with friends and family or even visiting dying relatives. Truss said she will remain in office until a replacement is chosen, which the Conservative Party said it would do by the end of next week, an extremely fast timeline for choosing the next leader of one of the world’s largest economies. “I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss, 47, said outside her 10 Downing Street office.įinancial markets breathed a sigh of relief, but now a divided ruling party must quickly find a leader who can unify its warring factions. Her resignation extends the instability that has shaken Britain since it broke off from the European Union and leaves its leadership in limbo as the country faces a cost-of-living crisis and looming recession. LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss quit Thursday after a tumultuous and historically brief term marred by economic policies that roiled financial markets and a rebellion in her political party that obliterated her authority.Īfter just 45 days in office, Truss became the third Conservative prime minister to be toppled in as many years, and she will go down as the shortest-serving leader in British history.
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