Liz Truss

Margaret Thatcher was a titan on the world stage, a visionary leader who transformed Britain from the "sick man of Europe" in the 1970s into a global power ...

She should be assertive in her dealings with the Biden administration, and stand her ground on issues of vital British national interest, including the Northern Ireland Protocol, which threatens the integrity of the United Kingdom. Great Britain needs the kind of steadfast, principled conservative leadership that Margaret Thatcher stood for and believed in. Ben Wallace, who has been an outstanding Defence Secretary, remains in his post, and will be a major thorn in the side of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s barbaric efforts to invade Ukraine. Encouragingly, she has called for an aspiration-based society, one that champions individual freedom over government handouts, and celebrates the free market instead of tying its hands. Both Braverman and Badenoch have also been at the forefront of Britain’s culture wars, and key figures in combating the left’s nefarious "woke" agenda. Truss, who previously served as Foreign Secretary and International Trade Secretary, succeeds Boris Johnson, who resigned as Prime Minister following a rebellion among Conservative Members of Parliament.

The death of Queen Elizabeth and the ascendancy of King Charles within 48 hours of becoming PM has reshaped her nascent premiership.

[Purchase a Print subscription for 11,12 € per week You will be billed 107,91 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_uk3m?segmentId=461cfe95-f454-6e0b-9f7b-0800950bef25&utm_us=JJIBAX&utm_eu=WWIBEAX&utm_ca=JJIBAZ&utm_as=FIBAZ&ft-content-uuid=463c0d39-a696-4a07-8ad5-1a26f458e5c1) [Purchase a Digital subscription for 6,64 € per week You will be billed 39 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_digital?ft-content-uuid=463c0d39-a696-4a07-8ad5-1a26f458e5c1) [Purchase a Trial subscription for 1 € for 4 weeks You will be billed 65 € per month after the trial ends](/signup?offerId=41218b9e-c8ae-c934-43ad-71b13fcb4465&ft-content-uuid=463c0d39-a696-4a07-8ad5-1a26f458e5c1)

There was a reshuffle, a No 10 overhaul and an energy package before she suddenly found herself leading a nation in mourning.

Truss’s team also made it clear she would be dismantling Johnson’s reforms of the No 10 operation, and at least 40 civil servants were told directly about their new roles in the Cabinet Office. One current serving minister said they were concerned that a mass clearout of Sunak supporters would entrench divisions in the party. Two former ministers said they were despondent about the party’s future, with one saying throwing themselves in the Thames was a similarly appealing prospect. “She is quite obviously more of a future prospect for the party than Penny or Suella [Braverman, the home secretary] now.” Badenoch had been keen to take over as culture secretary and Mordaunt rejected the job of party chair. Truss had evidently prepared to a high degree as it became obvious she would triumph over her rival, Rishi Sunak.

"Britain is the great country it is today because of her," Truss said earlier this week about Queen Elizabeth.

The death of Her Majesty The Queen is a huge shock to the nation and to the world. He also spoke fondly of his late mother, calling her his "darling Mama" while also praising her lifelong duty to her role and promising to follow in her example of "lifelong service." Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Queen Elizabeth was a life well lived; a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing. and flowers," [he continued](https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-09-09/king-charles-tells-pm-truss-queens-death-the-moment-ive-been-dreading). [per People](https://people.com/royals/king-charles-prime-minister-liz-truss-first-audience-monarch/).

The UK prime minister looks set to be defined by her first weeks in office. TOPSHOT-BRITAIN-ROYALS-QUEEN- ...

Instead, Truss has an entirely new challenge — to rise to the occasion, as a novice prime minister, at a moment of history. In an Ipsos poll this week, only half of the people surveyed said they knew a fair amount or a great deal about her. This is difficult to get right but putting public empathy before politics is the key.” Blair’s memorable reference to Diana as “the people’s princess” in his speech that day chimed with the nation, and indeed went down in history. He won praise for his empathy at a time when the rest of the royal family was under heavy criticism for its muted response to Diana’s death. is also now in doubt, with the queen’s funeral and the fiscal event already pencilled in that same week. If she survives this crisis and shows the necessary leadership, she will emerge from it with the praise of the future.” She intended to hit the ground running. She knew her premiership would be judged on how it landed with the public. Four hours later, at 4.30 p.m., Truss was informed of the queen’s death by Simon Case, her most senior civil servant. Her announcement, an estimated £100 billion package to freeze bills at their current level, would be one of the biggest-ever fiscal interventions by a U.K. Already ringed red in Truss’ diary was Thursday, September 8, two days into her premiership, and likely the most important day of her career.

Britain's new prime minister is no Margaret Thatcher. But can Labour do better?

The Labour leadership seems fixated on the idea that because a group of voters from working-class backgrounds, usually in the postindustrial north, voted for Brexit and then for Boris Johnson in 2019, Labour can only win back their votes by embracing rightist hostility to Europe. In a major YouGov poll of 1,600 respondents in mid-August, only 39 percent said leaving Europe was a good idea, compared to the 52 percent who voted for Brexit six years ago. That era of cheap money, low inflation, cheap energy, cheap labor, and cheap goods produced anywhere in the world without respect for the conventions of the ILO is now over. Thatcher won power in 1979 as an opponent of uncontrolled strikes in every sector from the BBC to electricity power stations in the 1970s. The OECD and the U.K. She opposed Brexit in 2016, but turned her coat fast as the Tory Party moved to Johnson’s Trumpian style of lies and disinformation about Europe. The strikes in Britain in 2022 have all been voted for in a secret ballot. In fact, the big decade of trade union and working-class militancy in Britain was the 1970s. The worst of the strikes in terms of numbers of workers and unions participating was during the Labour government of 1974-1979. It was the biggest improvement in the lives of the working class since the Industrial Revolution. She adopted it to symbolize her battle with the antisemitic military junta in Argentina that stupidly took on the British army and Royal Navy in the Falklands. The description of Margaret Thatcher as the “Iron Lady” was in an article in the Red Army newspaper in 1978, with the Soviet journalist thinking that comparing her to the medieval iron maiden torture instrument would be a satisfying insult.

British families and households finally have some clarity that substantial support in paying crippling gas and electricity bills is on its way. The new prime ...

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Liz Truss's UK government announced a sweeping package of measures to contain spiraling energy bills, seeking to ease a historic squeeze on the cost of ...

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss on Thursday announced a broad stimulus package to help Brits with soaring energy bills and attract investment into the energy ...

That cap was estimated to climb to £4,649.72 in the first quarter of 2023 and then £5,341.08 in the second quarter, according to consultancy Cornwall Insight [forecasts](https://www.cornwall-insight.com/cornwall-insight-release-final-predictions-for-octobers-price-cap/). It means household budgets are not completely out of the woods yet," Haine wrote in a press release. Fuel poverty is defined as being unable to adequately heat a household. 26, or whether the freeze would be put at £2,500 per household per year. "We're calling for 2021 levels," he told Sky News. There will then be further support for vulnerable sectors such as hospitality, the prime minister said. [pledged to cancel their energy bills payments](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/uk-energy-bill-boycott-dont-pay-gains-traction-truss-to-offer-relief.html) on Oct.1 in protest to the increased energy cap. Rees-Mogg has previously been quoted as calling fracking an "interesting opportunity." Deutsche Bank estimated that Truss would implement an energy bill freeze. [set to hit £3,549 per year](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/26/uk-energy-bills-to-rise-by-80percent-in-october-as-regulator-announces-hike.html) from Oct. [how the bill would be funded](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/08/uks-liz-truss-will-unleash-billions-of-pounds-to-help-with-energy-bills.html), with speculation about whether the bill will land in the taxpayers' lap in the longer term. - In the run-up to the announcement, questions had been raised over how the bill would be funded, with speculation about whether the bill will land in the taxpayers' lap in the longer term.

The government could borrow £100bn to cap the typical household energy bill at around £2500 a year.

The system to support business could be more complex than that for households and is likely to be reviewed more often. The cost of living is currently rising at its fastest rate in 40 years, with prices 10.1% higher than the same time last year. We also strongly need to see some investment from the government in renewable energy so that 12 months along the line we've got systems in place." The current price cap - set by Ofgem and which limits the maximum amount domestic customers can be charged for each unit of energy - is due to increase in October. The cost of UK government borrowing is currently at its highest level for eight years, with the yield on 10-year bonds rising above 3%. Rosemary Brown, director of Bluebell Dairy, a luxury ice cream maker, said her energy costs had jumped from £35,000 a year to £80,000. Following a series of meetings with officials, energy companies - mainly in the nuclear and renewables sector - have agreed in principle to accept new long-term contracts at fixed prices well below current rates, BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt said. It also means any future borrowing will be more expensive. However, some economists have suggested that plans to cap energy bills could mean that increases in the cost of living will peak earlier and be "significantly lower" than previously forecast. "We are definitely thinking about shutting our doors, it's very stressful." Rocketing prices are leaving households facing eyewatering energy bills. To limit the amount customers' bills go up by, the government is expected to compensate energy firms for the difference between the wholesale price for gas and electricity they pay and the amount they can charge customers.

Prime minister expected to head to Buckingham Palace before monarch makes televised address to nation.

Parliament is unlikely to sit next week out of respect for the Queen. Ministers have also met to discuss logistics for the national mourning period and the Queen’s funeral. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, also led tributes to the Queen at a meeting of the shadow cabinet on Friday morning, Labour said, with the meeting observing a minute of silence.

Liz Truss's new Government has agreed on an energy price freeze to combat the energy crisis, although this won't be funded by a windfall tax on energy firms ...

However, the Green Alliance states that opening new fields in the North Sea would be “uneconomic” given the “unstoppable rise” of clean technologies and the need to hit long-term climate goals. This means businesses will see their energy costs capped at the same price per unit that households will pay. As such, major oil giants including BP and Shell are incentivised to drill in the North Sea. A new licensing round has been announced and Truss expects more than 100 new oil and gas licenses to be awarded. The scheme will be led by the Treasury and the Bank of England, to address the “extraordinary liquidity requirements” faced by energy firms operating in UK wholesale gas and/or electricity markets. Truss also confirmed that new gas licenses would be issued for the North Sea oil and gas industry. This, the Government claims, is to ensure that the new limits on energy bills stop taxpayers’ money from being funnelled into the profit margins of suppliers. A [windfall tax] would discourage the very investment we need to secure a homegrown energy supply.” The Conservative Government imposed a moratorium on fracking in 2019 because companies leading extraction projects could not prove their ability to operate below a threshold for tremors they had previously agreed to. The package includes a new price freeze on household energy bills, effectively eliminating the £3,549 price cap due to come in October. It is important to state that while this has been branded an energy cost crisis, the key contributor to rising costs is gas. Extraordinary challenges call for extraordinary measures, ensuring that the United Kingdom is never in this situation again.”