Liz Truss has been announced as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Ms Truss was today declared as the winner of a contest for leadership of the Conservative Party between herself and Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, by Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee.
This comes following Boris Johnson’s resignation in early July.
Ms Truss is set to finalise her cabinet by the end of today. She will then meet the Queen in Balmoral on Tuesday where she will be formally invited to form a government.
The major challenge facing the new PM is, of course, the economy, with inflation now at a 40-year high and energy bills soaring to unthinkable levels.
She is, therefore, expected to “act immediately” and announce a support package for energy costs as early as Thursday, which could even include an outright freeze on prices, say the BBC.
Ms Truss is also likely to deliver a striking £30 billion of tax cuts in an effort to stimulate an economy that is, by some accounts, already in recession.
Commenting on the announcement, Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce called on Liz Truss to “demonstrate a renewed respect for the rule of law at home and with international partners when she takes office”. She continued:
“Investment should be made across the entire justice system, including on court buildings, to ensure timely access to justice is available to all.
We are all facing a cost of living crisis and it is essential that solicitors are there when individuals and businesses need them to deal with legal and financial challenges caused by spiralling costs.
Solicitors are also feeling the squeeze of increasing costs of doing business – especially professional indemnity insurance hikes – and we call on the new PM to take action to address this and ensure they are there to carry out their vital work on behalf of others.
We also hope that there will be support for small law firms faced with rising energy costs.”
James Tucker, founder and CEO of Twenty7Tec, gave his thoughts on what the new Prime Minister must address in the property sector during their tenture:
“One thing that I hope that our new PM gets right is the stop treating the housing and mortgage sectors as unrelated industries. MHCLG and Treasury need more joined-up thinking on how they work together.
There’s a lot of rhetoric about housebuilding, yet even the recent report by the Land Registry into house buying barely touches on the element that makes the market work: mortgages.
In my view, the Government needs a fully functioning mortgage market in order to continue to deliver a healthy and vibrant housing market which contributes to the nation’s greater wealth.
We’d love to have clear commitments in relation to how to support First Time Buyers, for example. Without First Time Buyers being able to access the market, then the rest of the chain is possibly overly reliant on Buy To Let landlords at the lower echelons.”
