The prime minister has stepped up to a podium in Downing Street, after holding “crisis talks” with the chairman of the 1922 Committee. Then we hear it – that on her 45th day in power she is resigning. “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability,” she said. “Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.” Ms Truss added that she was elected “with a mandate to change this” – saying: “We delivered on energy bills, and on cutting National Insurance.” She says she now recognises she “cannot deliver the mandate” on which she was elected – “given the situation”.
Ms Truss has spoken to King Charles to tender her resignation, she said. There will be a leadership election “to be completed within the next week”. Ms Truss said, “this will ensure we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans”. She will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen.
Summary
- Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned as UK prime minister in a statement outside Downing Street
- She said she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected as Tory leader and had notified the King that she was resigning
- There will be a Conservative leadership election to be completed within the next week, she says
- “I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen,” she said
- It comes after she met the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs as more Tories called for her to quit
- Truss’s premiership came under renewed pressure after the home secretary resigned and a chaotic vote on fracking
- There was fury on Wednesday evening around the vote and the methods used to get MPs to vote with the government
Truss the briefest serving PM in UK history
Liz Truss has been in office for just 45 days – the shortest tenure of any UK prime minister. The second shortest-serving PM was George Canning, who served for 119 days after dying in 1827. Trouble began when her first Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, spooked the financial markets with his mini-budget on 23 September. Since then, Conservative disquiet has morphed into widespread anger within the parliamentary party. Her stepping down today follows dramatic scenes in the House of Commons last night over a vote on fracking. Calls for her to go kept growing in the hours afterwards.
Starmer demands election as Truss quits
Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded a general election “now” after Liz Truss announced her resignation as prime minister.
Muted response on markets to the resignation
There has been a muted response on the markets after Liz Truss announced she was resigning as prime minister. The pound rose initially in the immediate aftermath of the statement before settling back at around $1.12. Before she delivered her statement, one analyst said the markets were “watching in a kind of stunned, open-mouthed horror” at political events.
Hunt not running to be PM
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he will not stand to be the next Conservative leader and UK prime minister.
