Rishi Sunak vs Liz Truss: How & when will UK’s next PM be announced? All key details here
After two months of battle, the results of the Tory leadership race will finally be announced on Monday, September 5 at around 11.30 GMT or 5 pm in India.
As the United Kingdom is all set to welcome its new Prime Minister, the top contenders — Indian-origin former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss — who have been colleagues for several years, are facing each other in the Tory leadership race. The voting for the leadership was concluded on Friday,
with at least 1,80,000 party workers exercising their vote. For the past two months, both contenders tried their best to persuade the Conservative members in a series of TV debates. Some debates were even termed as the most critical as the duo targeted each other over several issues, including tax, education and inflation.
Next UK PM to be declared on Sept 5
After two months of battle, the results will finally be announced on Monday, September 5 at around 11.30 GMT or 5 pm in India. According to projection polls, Truss may win the Tory race, and succeed Boris Johnson as the UK’s next prime minister. As per the UK Constitution, a day after the announcement of the results, the outgoing PM Johnson will formally tender his resignation to Queen
Elizabeth II, and the new Tory leader will be invited to form a government. However, unlike UK tradition, this time, both Johnson and the next PM will have to travel to Scotland as the 96-year-old monarch is currently staying there due to mobility problems. As per the traditions, a meeting with the queen and Prime Minister takes place in London’s Buckingham Palace.
As per tradition, the appointment of the PM will be then authored in the official record of the royal engagement. The new PM is supposed to kiss the appointment.
New cabinet
Subsequently, the new PM will travel back to London in order to deliver a speech outside Downing Street following an appointment of the Cabinet. Then, the ministers will meet on September 7, Wednesday. Later, house proceedings will be held on the same day wherein PM will face questions with the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer.
Furious TV debates
During the TV debate, Truss repeatedly promised to provide tax relief to the citizens despite knowing the country has been facing unprecedented inflation. “I have a bold plan that will grow our economy and deliver higher wages, more security for families and world-class public services,” Truss said in a statement. However, Sunak contested the claim and dubbed Truss “incapable” of handling the economy and added she would lead the country to plunge into an “inflation crisis”.
Alleging that Truss would increase borrowing to “historic and dangerous levels,” Sunak’s advocacy group said that she has no concrete plan to run the economy and added she would not be able to provide a respite to households in the upcoming winter.
The team underscored that Truss cannot deliver a support package as well as come good on £50 billion worth of unfunded, permanent tax cuts in one go. According to Sunak, any alteration would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral. Notably,
the statement from Sunak came as Ofgem– Office of Gas and Electricity Markets– announced that it is expected the cap on energy bills will be increased from £1,971 to about £3,600. On the other hand, Truss voiced optimism for the UK economy, and said, “There was too much talk that there’s going to be a recession” and added she would control all the probability of the country moving towards recession.
Unceremonious exit of Boris Johnson
It is worth mentioning here that Rishi Sunak, then UK Chancellor, initiated trouble for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, by tendering his resignation with his colleague and health minister Sajid Javid. His abrupt decision led to the mass resignation of ministers which eventually
led to the unceremonious exit of Johnson, who had proved his majority in the Parliament in June this year. According to Sunak, he has the support of more than 80 to 100 deputies and is the most “suitable candidate” for the post of UK Prime Minister.
