U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday after just 44 days in office amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis and continued fallout over a scrapped plan to cut taxes for the ultra-rich.
"I recognize given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party," Truss said in a speech. "I've spoken to his majesty the king to notify him I'm resigning as leader of the Conservative Party."
Truss is expected to leave office by the end of next week, after the Tories hold a leadership election to select her replacement.
In response to Truss' announcement, Nick Dearden of the U.K.-based advocacy group Global Justice Now called her "the most disastrous PM in our history."
"But, this is not just about one person," Dearden wrote on Twitter. "Truss' party has driven this country into chaos over 12 long years. We're all bearing the consequences. They need to go. GENERAL ELECTION NOW."
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn argued that "the debacle of Liz Truss' short-lived premiership is a symptom of a broken economic system and a trashed democracy."
"We will continue to lurch from crisis to crisis—and ordinary people will pay the price—until we finally build a society for the many, not the few," Corbyn added.
EXCLUSIVE:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) October 20, 2022
I'm told that Boris Johnson is expected to stand in the Tory leadership contest
He's taking soundings but is said to believe it is a matter of national interesthttps://t.co/SuApE3RmIr
