Liz Truss will become the new prime minister of the UK after beating rival Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest. For the last six weeks, Liz and Rishi have been battling it out to become the next leader of the country, with Liz Truss ultimately winning the title of prime minister. Ms Truss joked it had been “one of the longest job interviews in history”.
Liz Truss will succeed Boris Johnson, becoming the third female leader of the nation. She won with 57% of the votes, beating Rishi Sunak’s 43%, a large victory margin. However, her win by 14% is slimmer than in recent contests and polls. Ms Truss thanked her voters and her party, stating it was an “honour to be elected”.
But now Liz Truss has won the race to become the Tory leader, which policies and changes has she promised?
During her campaign, Ms Truss said she would reverse the recent National Insurance rise from April. She also pledged not to bring in any new taxes and to scrap the planned rise in corporation tax. The corporation tax was set to increase from 19% to 25% in 2023.
Other policies mentioned in her leadership race campaign included spreading the UK’s “covid debt” over a longer period to ease the strain on individuals and businesses. She also suggested making paying taxes easier for those unable to work due to caring responsibilities.
She also said she would not cut public spending, unless the party could find a way to do so without creating further problems in the future. Additionally, she suggested a target of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, reaching 3% by 2030.
Another policy discussed during her campaign included suspending the “green levy” – the part of energy bills that pays for social and green projects.
Liz Truss now faces a plethora of challenges and issues, including cost of living support packages and helping the nation get through the coming winter as energy bills soar.
In her winning speech, she reiterated a promise to “deliver a bold plan” in cutting taxes and growing the economy. “I will deliver on the energy crisis dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.” She said in her victory speech.
