By Felix Von Der Geest
Liz Truss inherits a Tory party polling badly, an economic crisis, and a country unhappy with the direction it is being taken in but does Liz Truss have what it takes to win the next General election?
1. The Polls
Polls are by no means perfect but the latest You Gov poll puts Labour 15 points ahead of the conservatives and many pollsters agree if an election was held tomorrow Labour would win a majority. Truss hasn’t yet been tested electorally but most polling suggests she is unpopular across the country, with 50% of Britons being disappointed in her becoming Prime minister and just 14% say she will be better than Boris Johnson. She often comes across as awkward and she herself has admitted her weaknesses when it comes to public speaking. While you’d hope she will be judged on her policy often elections are more about image than substance, just ask Ed Miliband and we have seen in the past she has experienced a few embarrassing moments.
2. Economic Crisis
The defining issue of the next 1-2 years will be the cost-of-living crisis and the looming economic situation. The government has brought in a plan that will keep energy bills to £2500 pounds funded through borrowing. Overall short term the scheme looks to be effective although many will question the sustainability of this borrowing and wonder why we didn’t bring in another windfall tax. Unfortunately for Truss the announcement was overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II. While the scheme will help, there will still be a lot of people extremely concerned with rising prices of goods, inflation hitting 10% and stagnant wages. Truss has one of the most difficult jobs ahead of her and the Bank of England warn of a recession.
3. an Unhappy country
The rest of Liz Truss’ in tray will not be pleasant viewing for those supporting her; she has a crisis in the NHS, the fallout of Brexit in Northern Ireland, questions concerning the union and Strikes. First, we come to the NHS, years of mismanagement and lack of funds has led to a dire situation and Liz Truss needs a solution for the issues in the NHS and social care if she wants to win over the public before a general election. Issues in both Northern Ireland and Scotland also make for grim reading with a growing number of Scots supportive of independence and Nicola Sturgeon pushing hard for a referendum and Northern Ireland struggling to even form a government after the issues with the Brexit deal. Next the growing discontent across the country with its current state has led to strikes across industries with Barristers, postal workers and Transport workers already planning strikes and many across the medical profession and teachers balloting or considering strike action. All these issues combined show up the cracks forming across this country. I think an IPSO MORI poll illustrates this best, with 2/3 of Britons saying they are unhappy with the direction this country is going in, it is clear Britons want to see a change in leadership.
To conclude...
When Liz Truss put her name forward for leader, she knew what she was in for, a premiership plagued with crises at every corner. She has a mere 2 years to turn things around and with confidence already dwindling in her party the next election could be over for her before it has even begun.
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