Liz Truss will remain prime minister until a successor is decided. (File)
London:
Growing calls for the British Prime Minister to be seen as Liz Truss resign or be replaced, after weeks of economic and political turmoil over her largely tax-cut economic package have now been abandoned. give up.
Here are four scenarios for Truss, who only succeeded Boris Johnson in Downing Street early last month.
Truss resigns
At least four MPs from Truss’ Conservative party have publicly called for her to step down following dramatic reversals on her economic agenda in recent days.
Many others have told reporters that her term, which has only been six weeks, has effectively ended.
Following her decision to fire her finance minister on Friday and replace him with previous leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, Truss may decide that her credibility has deteriorated to the point that she has to resign.
She will remain as prime minister until a successor is decided.
That could mean another Tory leadership contest, less than two months after the last one officially ended.
But the party can avoid a protracted and divisive war by uniting around a single surrogate, who is chosen at the coronation.
Theresa May replaced former prime minister David Cameron in 2016 – amid setbacks from the Brexit referendum – after all other candidates eventually withdrew.
However, Truss showed no signs of being ready to step down, with her spokeswoman telling reporters on Monday that she remained “focused on deliveries”.
Vote of no confidence
Tory MPs could try to force Truss to resign – but it would require a unified effort by the party’s always-tough 357 House of Representatives lawmakers.
Conservative party rules prevent a new leader from facing a vote of no confidence by colleagues in their first year, because only one contest can be held in any 12 period. which month.
Outside of that, it typically requires 15% of the party in parliament – which currently has 54 MPs – to support a leadership election.
However, the Tory’s 1922 Committee for Power, which sets the party’s internal rules, could change them to allow a vote of no confidence in Truss.
In that case, it is not clear what threshold should be set to trigger a vote.
If she loses that probable vote, Truss will no longer be leader of the Conservative party but will remain prime minister until a successor is chosen.
The 1922 committee will need to agree on rules for choosing that new leader – who will be the party’s third this year and fifth since 2016.
Reports suggest Tory MPs don’t want a protracted campaign decided by party ranks and profiles, so they may try to rally behind a so-called candidate unity only.
But the party is deeply divided and may struggle to regroup around a single figure.
Survival shoes
Although she has severely damaged her credibility, Truss may have created some political space to maintain her faltering position of prime minister, after replacing the minister. financial Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday by Hunt more central.
Meanwhile, the near-total cut of her small budget has calmed formerly buoyant markets, giving her financial stability and time to turn things around.
Truss will meet with different factions at her unhappy party this week, while chairing the cabinet for a Downing Street reception on Monday night.
Additionally, at the end of the month, Hunt will detail how the government has reduced borrowing in the medium term, providing an opportunity to further reassure markets.
General election
The next UK election will take place in January 2025 at the latest, the government can decide whether and when to trigger an election before then.
However, Truss’ government must retain the support of a majority of MPs.
Under Britain’s unmodified constitution, there are three ways they can show they’ve lost faith, including by passing a motion of no confidence or voting against government budget plans.
In such a scenario, the prime minister is expected to resign or ask the king to dissolve parliament, which, if accepted, would push for a general election.
The main opposition Labor Party currently has its highest opinion poll lead in decades, with some surveys suggesting the Tories will lose hundreds of seats.
It is therefore highly likely that the score of Conservative MPs needed to vote against the government will join opposition parties in doing the same.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
