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- The winner of the leadership contest will be announced
- Truss is expected to be the victor
- Start the delivery process
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Liz Truss is expected to be named leader of the Conservative Party government and Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, poised to take power at a time when the country faces a cost crisis of life, industrial unrest and recession.
After weeks of an often acrimonious and divisive party leadership contest that pitted Truss against Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, Monday’s announcement at 11.30 GMT will trigger the start of a Boris Johnson reshuffle.
Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and will travel to Scotland on Tuesday to meet Queen Elizabeth to formally tender his resignation. His successor will follow him and will be asked to form a government.
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Long the front-runner in the race to replace Johnson, Truss, if appointed, will become the fourth Conservative prime minister since the 2015 election. it now faces a long recession fueled by inflation that hit 10.1% in July.
Johnson’s foreign secretary, Truss, 47, has vowed to act quickly to tackle Britain’s cost of living crisis, saying within a week she would draw up a plan to tackle the ‘increase in energy bills and ensure future fuel supply.
In a television interview on Sunday, he declined to give details of the measures he says will reassure millions of people who fear they won’t be able to pay their fuel bills as winter approaches.
She declined to comment on a report that her energy plan could exceed 100 billion pounds ($115 billion), but the lawmaker suggested it would be her finance minister, Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng, wrote on Monday that the government could afford to borrow more to finance the support. for homes and businesses. Read more
Truss has signaled during his leadership campaign that he would defy convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other taxes that some economists say would fuel inflation.
That, along with a pledge to review the Bank of England’s powers while protecting its independence, has seen some investors dump the pound and government bonds.
Kwarteng tried to calm markets on Monday, saying in an op-ed in the Financial Times newspaper that under Truss there should be “some fiscal relaxation” but that his administration would act “in a fiscally responsible manner”. Read more
“THE SECOND HARDEST POST-WAR SHORT”
Truss faces a long, expensive and hard-to-do list, which opposition lawmakers say is the result of 12 years of poor Conservative government. Several have called snap elections, which Truss has said he will not allow.
Veteran Tory MP David Davis described the challenges she would take on as prime minister as “probably the second most difficult brief of any post-war prime minister” after Tory Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
“I don’t really think any of the candidates, or any of them going through it, really know how big it’s going to be,” he said, adding that the costs could run into tens of billions of pounds.
Truss has said she will appoint a strong cabinet, eschewing what one source close to her called a “presidential style” of government, and will have to work hard to win over some lawmakers in her party who had backed Sunak in the race. .
The Institute for Government said Truss would have a weaker starting point than any of his predecessors, because he was not the most popular choice among lawmakers in his party.
First, it will address the pressing issue of rising energy prices. Average annual household utility bills will rise by 80% in October to £3,549, ahead of an expected rise to £6,000 in 2023, decimating personal finances.
Britain has lagged behind other major European countries in its bid to support consumers’ energy bills, which opposition lawmakers blame on a “zombie” government that cannot act while the Tories their leadership contest. Read more
In May, the government set out a £15bn support package to help households with energy bills as part of its £37bn cost of living support plan.
Italy has budgeted more than 52 billion euros ($51.75 billion) so far this year to help its population. In France, increases in electricity bills are capped at 4% and Germany said on Sunday it would spend at least 65 billion euros to protect consumers and businesses from rising inflation.
($1 = 1.0049 euros)
($1 = 0.8715 pounds)
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Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and William Schomberg; Editing by Frances Kerry, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Angus MacSwan
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