Truss in Downing Street

Liz Truss will become Britain’s third female prime minister this week after the Conservatives selected her over former chancellor Rishi Sunak. Truss, currently foreign secretary, has served in several cabinet positions over the last eight years. Her rise to the top has been nothing short of meteoric — just 12 years after being elected to Westminster for the first time. However, her critics are quick to point out that she appears to have no positions of her own, regularly flip-flopping, depending on where the tide is turning. Most notably, Truss was a vehement critic of the monarchy in her earlier political career, which would be political suicide for a senior Conservative figure. More recently, she was a committed ‘remainer’, until the vote was lost, when she turned into a Eurosceptic.

Even her campaign promises raised suspicions. She made all the promises that Conservatives lap up, most notably cutting taxes and reducing government spending. But most experts question whether she will actually be able to implement them. Energy prices have gone up as much as 80%, public transport is on strike, and several essential services have become dysfunctional. Meanwhile, inflation, already over 10%, is expected to rise to 13% by the end of the year, and be even worse next year. Even her tax policies, while popular in the party, are being slammed by economists — she opposes a windfall tax on energy companies and is unwilling to offer people aid to cover rising food and energy costs.

Truss will also have a hard time deflecting blame if she cannot address the crisis. The Conservatives have been in power for over 12 years, so it is quite difficult to blame any other political party for any of the country’s problems. And it is unlikely that voters will give her any time to take off the training wheels, because current Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have clocked out within days of his resignation, insisting on staying on as caretaker prime minister but refusing to do anything to ease the strain on Britons’ pockets and instead, going on vacation.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2022.

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