Liz Truss will be the new prime minister after defeating Rishi Sunak for Leadership of the Tory party. Truss, who took 57% of the votes, is expected to appoint an appalling cabinet drawn from the dregs of the Tory right wing. The result, however ,was closer than expected and Truss’s support is the narrowest of any recent Tory leader-Cameron received 68%, Johnson 66% and now the Coronation of Liz Truss has happened with just 57% despite a massive media campaign suggesting that she was odds on favourite. 18% of Tory members didn’t even vote. Labour Leader Keir Starmer immediately reminded the people that the country is facing a “Tory cost of living crisis”. He continued “Liz Truss is not on the side of working people. We’ve heard far more from the latest prime minister about cuts to corporation tax over the summer than we have about the cost-of-living crisis, the single most important thing that’s bearing down on so many millions of households. That shows not only that she’s out of touch, but she’s not on the side of working people. So she needs to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, she needs to deal with the fact the NHS is on its knees, and she needs to deal with the collapse of law and order. There can be no justification for not freezing energy prices. There’s a political consensus that needs to happen. She needs to ask the question how she’s going to pay for that. Labour made it clear, it needs to be a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. So, she needs to show that she actually understands and can meet the challenges that are there after 12 years of failure of this Tory Government.”
Labour says ‘Tories Out’
Across Somerset Labour figures have been commenting on the election. Cllr Brian Smedley , Leader of Labour controlled Bridgwater Town Council, said “This is no victory for anyone. Since the Lib Dems allowed the Tories back into Government in 2010 they’ve been pillaging the country year by year with Austerity then Brexit and then the energy crisis. Even Rishi Sunak said Truss’s plans were ‘immoral’…but of course it’s no surprise to see him now backing them. The Tories are only interested in themselves. As a concept the Tory party has no solutions other than self-interest. More and more people year on year out are starting to realise this and the only good thing about the Truss Government is it won’t last long.”
Labour across Somerset has been making the point that it’s not just changing the Tory it’s changing ‘the Tories’ that will solve things for the better.
Terry Ledlie Yeovil CLP said “Today’s announcement Is nothing more than an attempt to paper over the cracks in Number 10 Downing street. Let’s hope Liz calls an early General election and we can get this out-of-touch Tory Government out of power. “
Cllr Sean Dromgoole (Somerton & Frome CLP) said “VOGOF (Vote One Get One Free) replace their leader for the third time after three general elections. You voted Cameron, you got May, you voted May you got Johnson. You voted Johnson you get Truss. All we can say with certainty is whoever the Tories put up in the next election, that won’t be the person running the country two years later…”
Cllr Kathy Pearce (Bridgwater & West Somerset CLP) “The prospect of a long, hard, winter just got a whole lot harder and longer. Liz Truss’s trotting out of the tired old Tory mantra of cutting taxes will do nothing at all to tackle the failed Tory policies which have created the cost of living crisis, for which the most vulnerable in society will pay the biggest price. It’s a disgrace.”
The world just got less safe…
Liz Truss, when Foreign Secrtary, declared that she would launch a nuclear strike on Russia, even though the result would be “global annihilation” which became clear when John Pienaar of Times Radio told Truss that if she became prime minister, she would be quickly shown the procedures for launching nuclear missiles from Britain’s Trident submarines. “It would mean global annihilation,” Pienaar said. “I won’t ask you if you would press the button, you’ll say yes, but faced with that task I would feel physically sick. How does that thought make you feel?” With dead eyes and an emotionless expression, Truss replied, “I think it’s an important duty of the Prime Minister and I’m ready to do that.” “I’m ready to do that,” she repeated, soliciting a round of applause from the assembled Tories. Truss’s robotic and instantaneous reply must sound a warning to workers throughout the world as to how close we now stand to nuclear Armageddon. In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov citing “unacceptable” remarks “by various representatives at various levels” about possible “clashes” between NATO and Moscow: “I would not call the authors of these statements by name, although it was the British foreign minister.”
Will the wave of strikes now stop?
The Tory energy crisis has seen a massive rise in strikes. This is down to the impact of soaring inflation on the already hard hit working class. In fact, this holds true internationally and it’s a strike wave that is growing not receding and one that can sweep Truss and the Tories from office.
RMT’s Mick Lynch said “Liz Truss should act in the national interest and play a positive role in helping to settle the rail dispute. This means investment in the railway infrastructure, unshackling Network Rail and the rail companies so we can come to a negotiated settlement on job security, pay and working conditions.”
Dave Ward (CWU) said “The trade union movement is the strongest safeguard against poverty in our country. If Liz Truss tries to capitalise on this historic crisis to try and stamp out the working class movement, we will take her on and beat her back.”
Will parliament welcome a Truss premiership?
Unlikely. When the candidates were whittled down to two, the Conservative MPs actually preferred Rishi Sunak to enter No 10, rather than Truss. But under Tory rules the vote then goes back to the shires and the Tory membership. So by a ridiculous freak of horrific happenstance, it’s the rump of the Conservative Party members in the country that have now decided who will be Prime Minister. The MPs wanted Sunak. 97% of Tory members are white and 54% live in the South. Already there are murmurings that Tory MPs will seek to get rid of Truss, a candidate they do not support, as early as May next year. And of course there’s also a democratic deficit as the majority of the country don’t actually want ANY Tory and so an election is the obvious next step. This might even suit what’s left of the moderate Tories who have mainly been squeezed out since backing the wrong horse in Brexit and now finding themselves in a hideously right wing party with dwindling popular support.
Richard Burgon MP (Leeds East) said “Liz Truss is making it totally clear what she is about: tax cuts for the rich, less redistribution and more fossil fuel exploration. We need to respond by campaigning for Wealth Taxes on the super-rich, utilities under public ownership and a bold vision for a Green New Deal.”
Labour are ready.
Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds declared that his party is “absolutely” on an election footing and added that he wants to see the government “swept away as soon as possible” so that Labour can “get on with the job” of rebuilding the economy and responding to the cost-of-living crisis. Labour has a plan. “What we are saying very clearly is freeze energy bills, freeze that price cap so people are not paying a penny more and take that worry away from people. We would be putting in place a contingency fund of £1bn for energy intensive businesses and, in addition to that, we would be raising the threshold at which business rates are paid, before then actually reforming business rates We are absolutely on an election footing, and I want to see this government swept away as soon as possible. To sweep this government away, we need to have that general election, and we in Labour want to see that general election happen as soon as we possibly can so we can get on with the job of rebuilding our country’s economy and standing beside people in this acute cost-of-living crisis “
Zarah Sultana MP said “Liz Truss wants to slash taxes for the super-rich while binning workers’ rights. She even says she’s against the very idea of wealth redistribution. Let’s be in no doubt: 12 years of Tory class war is set to get even worse. It’s time the rest of us fought back.”
Journalist Owen Jones commented “Liz Truss won’t have to skip hot meals to feed her kids. Liz Truss won’t lie awake at night fretting over her energy bills. No wonder she’s optimistic: but optimism doesn’t pay the bills.”
Truss is to the right of the party. she is likely to be more hawkish on government spending ….which has given some support to the UK economy. Given that hat we are already mired in the cost -of -living crisis, the last thing that we need is the government putting its foot on our heads by sinking the economy with Austerity.
Time for a Labour government!