Liz Truss vows tax cuts after winning vote to be next British PM

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Liz Truss will become Britain's next prime minister after winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative party on Monday, vowing to press ahead with promises of tax cuts and to deal with a growing energy crisis. After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive leadership contest, Truss, currently the foreign minister, defeated former finance minister Rishi Sunak in a vote of Conservative Party members, winning by 81,326 votes to 60,399.

"I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy," Truss said after the result was announced. "I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply." Truss takes over as the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest, a recession and war in Europe, where Britain has been a leading backer of Ukraine. She appeared to rule out another national election for the next two years, saying she would win a great victory for her party in 2024.

She succeeds Boris Johnson, who was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal saw support for his administration drain away. He will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. Truss will follow him and be asked to form a government by the monarch. Long the front-runner to replace him, Truss will become the Conservatives' fourth prime minister since a 2015 election.

Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July. Foreign minister under Johnson, Truss, 47, has promised to act quickly to tackle the cost of living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-truss-expected-be-named-conservative-leader-new-pm-2022-09-05/

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Article being updated. Original article and headline -

Liz Truss named as Britain's next prime minister

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Liz Truss was named as Britain's next prime minister on Monday, winning a leadership race for the governing Conservative party at a time when the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession. After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive leadership contest that saw the foreign minister face off against former finance minister Rishi Sunak, Truss came out on top in a vote of Conservative Party members.

The announcement triggers the start of a handover from Boris Johnson, who was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal saw support for his administration drain away. He will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. Truss will follow him and be asked to form a government by the monarch.

Long the front-runner in the race to replace Johnson, Truss will become the Conservatives' fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July. Foreign minister under Boris Johnson, Truss, 47, has promised to act quickly to tackle Britain's cost of living crisis, saying that within a week she will come up with a plan to tackle rising energy bills and securing future fuel supplies.

Truss has signalled during her leadership campaign she would challenge convention by scrapping tax increases and cutting other levies in a move some economists say would fuel inflation. That, plus a pledge to review the remit of the Bank of England while protecting its independence, has prompted some investors to dump the pound and government bonds.

[GoneOffShore]

1. And the incompetence continues and is compounded.

She thinks she's the reincarnation of Twatcher where she's really just a somewhat brighter Palin.

[empedocles]

7. .

[3Hotdogs]

2. Explain Bank of England remit.

[jmowreader]

38. Let's let the UK Government do that

The Bank of England Act 1998 requires the Treasury to specify at least once every 12 months how price stability should be defined and what the economic policy of the government consists of.

This is the monetary policy remit, which the Chancellor specifies in a letter to the Governor of the Bank of England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/monetary-policy-remit

[3Hotdogs]

39. Thanks. I don't think I would'a been able to find that one on the internet tubes.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. Stage 4 with no remission in sight. British economy and culture ruined on purpose

to suit a select class of ultra-rich conservatives and a Russian dictator who fronts for them.

[yaesu]

17. like the fed is ruining our economy to make Biden look bad. nt

[Mysterian]

4. Clown car government continues in Britain

Get a clue, friends.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Clown cars can at least serve a useful purpose, unlike that dipshit!!

[paleotn]

9. They'll point us and say we've got no room to talk.

And they'd be right. 74M Americans voted for a fascist narcissist in 2020.

[róisín_dubh]

6. Puke

Hopefully she's as ineffective as expected and they have to call a new General Election.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. If she's ineffective, they'll delay the election as long as possible

(which is up to December 2024). The Tories have a secure majority in the Commons, so they'd either wait as long as possible in the hope that things improve despite her, or they'd replace her again with yet another try at a competent leader - in which case they'd need as long as possible to put their spin on things.

[paleotn]

8. Crash the Pound sterling and fuel more inflation. Oh, that's a winning plan.

Since when have conservatives actually been fiscally conservative, i.e. cautious and financially sound? On both sides of the pond for that matter. Review the remit of the BOE? Sounds like our nutters wanting to muck with the Fed.

[Warpy]

10. Cut taxes, underfund everything that helps citizens, starting with the NHS

Tories are one trick ponies just like Republicans are.

Why anyone who isn't in the 0.01% would vote for these assholes is beyond me.

[Turbineguy]

11. Ah yes, the old "cut taxes and grow the economy" ploy

Where have we heard this before?

[edhopper]

12. Zombie Economics

Ideas that should have died with Reagan and Thatcher but continue to rise from the dead.

Of course the reason for this is that the reason for tax cuts is to make the Rich richer, not help the economy.

[Mr. Sparkle]

13. trickle down economics

she is a student of reagan and thatcher

[PSPS]

14. Her acceptance speech was boilerplate: "Lower taxes" and "drill, baby, drill"

No mention, of course, of taxing their (and russia's) oligarchs, or addressing their being the money-laundering capital of the world, or the "Londongrad" problem, etc.

[bahboo]

15. um, you'd think the electorate would learn...

"Truss will become the Conservatives' fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1% in July."

[DavidDvorkin]

18. The electorate didn't have a say in this choice.

[bahboo]

19. understood....but they will...right...

[LeftishBrit]

24. Probably not for another two years...

and Labour might well get in then, but it may be too late to rescue the country.

[DavidDvorkin]

26. True

With a majority of 71 seats, the Conservatives aren't likely to face the electorate before then.

Let's hope you're wrong about it being too late.

[Delphinus]

36. Oh,

this isn't what I wanted to hear. My husband and I talked about this last night and I said I hope Labor and the Lib Dems were going to be able to work together, building a coalition to help the people.

[muriel_volestrangler]

37. To my annoyance, the Labour leader Starmer has already ruled out any cooperation

Starmer rules out even informal post-election deal with Lib Dems

Keir Starmer has ruled out even an informal post-election deal with Liberal Democrats, following a similar pledge about the Scottish National party, as Labour seeks to close down Conservative accusations about a possible coalition.

Interviewed by Bloomberg, the Labour leader said his party would not go into coalition with “anyone”, including the Lib Dems, who under current polling could win a series of Conservative-held seats in the next election.

Asked whether this commitment also covered a more informal deal such as confidence and supply, under which Lib Dems could commit to supporting a minority Labour government without a formal coalition, Starmer replied: “I’m ruling out any arrangement.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/18/starmer-rules-out-even-informal-post-election-deal-with-lib-dems

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Up-tempo punk rock tax cuts for an economy with 10% inflation

Whew-boy! They found an economist to espouse this program?

[IronLionZion]

21. UK has had 3 female PMs, all conservative

Don't they have any liberals?

[LeftishBrit]

23. Yes...

in fact, the proportion of women MPs in the Labour and LibDem parties is close to 50%, while the Tories are far more male-dominated.

But you are right about the three PMs.

Liz Truss is a total idiot. Ugh.

[IronLionZion]

25. I hope the liberals can win more seats

in the UK and the US

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. Britain going Reaganomic?

[elleng]

27. THIS:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/opinion/liz-truss-prime-minister-inflation.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Should be a free link available via this tweet

Link to tweet

featuring the world's most ineffective bleeping. You can properly hear the 'sh' and the 't', but apparently the full word 'shit' is just too much. However, 'turd' (and 'piss') don't need bleeping. Ah, the NYT's sense of decorum.

[elleng]

31. I'm a subscriber too, but haven't noticed 'gift links.'

Would help my DU compatriots if I did so (even considering NYT's sense of decorum!)

[IcyPeas]

28. "I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy," Truss said

in 2 weeks?

[Richard_GB]

30. Beware

Liz Truss has delusions of adequacy.

[Grins]

32. Tax cuts! The conservative cure for, well, EVERYTHING!

She’s a conservative, all right!

[moondust]

33. She used to be a Liberal Democrat

who wanted to abolish the monarchy.

A former Liberal Democrat activist, who marched against Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, but who now claims to be the keeper of the Thatcherite flame.

She was a

Remain supporter who has become the darling of the Brexit-backing Conservative right wing ( of the "monarchy party" ).

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58575895

Maybe next week she'll be a ham sandwich.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. This part is boggling my mind...

A former Liberal Democrat activist, who marched against Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, but who now claims to be the keeper of the Thatcherite flame.

She was born in July of 1975 and Thatcher became PM in 1979 when she was 4 years old. She would have barely been a teen "in the '80s" (through to the end of that decade) before Thatcher finally stood down in 1990.

[DFW]

34. If she supported Brexit

She has already earned my dis-Truss-t.