Greater Manchester's Labour MPs have reiterated their party's call for an immediate general election after it was announced Rishi Sunak will become the country's Prime Minister.
Former Chancellor Mr Sunak was today appointed leader of the Conservative Party after being the only candidate to pass threshold of 100 nominations from Tory MPs.
He will move into Number 10 Downing Street once Liz Truss has officially tendered her resignation to the King. and he has had an audience with the monarch, expected to be tomorrow.
READ MORE: "We are doomed": What Mancs are saying about Rishi Sunak becoming the new Prime Minister
Ashton MP and Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said this evening said she welcomed the fact Mr Sunak will become the country's first-ever British Asian PM.
However, she said he had "no mandate" and should go to the country in a poll as the Tories “can’t just keep doling out prime ministers."
“Labour thinks that we should be having a general election" she told broadcasters in Westminster. "I think everybody who I’ve spoken to, the public, have said we should be having a general election" she continued.
“There is no mandate now. The Conservatives have completely broken their promises, broken our economy, and now they want to see a general election.
“They can’t just keep doling out prime ministers every month because they’re in total chaos and they’ve lost control of the markets and haven’t got any ideas of how they’re going to tackle the cost of living that people are facing.”
She said Rishi Sunak’s coronation in the Tory leadership race marked a “continuation” of the same problems and criticised the lack of policies announced by him for addressing the challenges the UK faces.
“I think it’s a continuation of the problems that the Conservatives have faced. We’re going to have three prime ministers in three months" she said. “Rishi Sunak was the chancellor where we’ve seen low growth, we’ve not seen that growth in our economy.
“He’s failed to deal with the inflation that we’ve seen and families are really worried about the cost of living that they face.
“And I’ve heard nothing from Rishi Sunak in the week or whatever it’s been that we’ve had the contest about how he’s going to actually tackle the challenges that people are facing today.”
Later when asked by reporters about Mr Sunak becoming the first British Asian to hold the office of Prime Minister she said: “I think it’s really important actually today to see our politicians, I’ve said this many times as a working class girl with an accent from Manchester, for our politicians to represent and for people to see themselves within our senior politicians.
"So I absolutely welcome that Rishi Sunak has become leader of the Conservative Party. But what I want to see is a general election so that people can give that mandate to whoever is our prime minister going forward.”
Manchester Central MP and Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell tweeted saying: "Let’s not forget Rishi Sunak had to be dragged kicking to parliament earlier this year to deal with rising costs of energy.
"He stood against a windfall tax, refusing to call it such, and leaving so many loopholes it wasn’t much of a tax. He’s as out of touch as the last Tory PM."
"This week’s Tory pick for PM was chosen without even saying a word about what he would do as PM" Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long-Bailey said.
"We’ve a fair idea though: he’s previously boasted about taking money from deprived areas to help wealthy towns. He has no mandate. #GeneralElectionNow "
Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East said in a Tweet sent before Mr Sunak's address to the nation said: "Whatever your politics, this episode has been a shameful anti-democratic exercise. And the public still have yet to hear a word from the man who wants to lead us."
Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd said in a statement on his website: "“Rishi Sunak hasn’t said a single word about how he would run the country, yet despite this Tory MPs have ‘crowned’ him as Prime Minister without anyone having the chance to vote in this decision.
“As Chancellor, Mr Sunak failed to grow the economy, failed to get to grips with inflation and failed to help families in Rochdale and across the country with the cost-of-living crisis.
“It wasn’t too long ago that he was caught on video boasting that the Tory government siphoned taxpayers’ money away from “deprived urban areas” into wealthy ones.
“He was the Chancellor who made sure ‘levelling up’ was just another empty Tory slogan, and now he’s a Prime Minister with no mandate and frankly, no idea what the people of Rochdale need.
“The reality is that this country needs a general election because the public should be in charge, and we will put the case forward for a fresh start with Labour.”
Whilst Worsley and Eccles South MP Barbara Keeley tweeted simply saying: "General election now." Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is yet to make any public statement following the announement.
There were however public messages of support from several of the region's Tory MPs to their new leader. Middleton MP Chris Clarkson said: "Huge congratulations to @RishiSunak - the new leader of the @Conservatives and next Prime Minister. A big job ahead, but a man more than equal to the task. Let's unite and deliver for Britain."
MP for Cheadle Mary Robinson said: "Congratulations to @RishiSunak on today becoming leader of the @Conservatives! Will be pleased to support our new Prime Minister in delivering on our mandate."
On Twitter Bolton North East MP Mark Logan shared a black and white picture of him and Mr Sunak accompanied by a handshake emoji.
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