Liz Truss said it had been a “great honour” to serve the country as she delivered her final speech from Downing Street, bringing down the curtain on the shortest premiership in British history.
Ms Truss will be replaced by Rishi Sunak following his meeting with King Charles, who will ask the former chancellor to form a government after winning his party’s leadership contest on Monday.
In an address outside No 10 on Tuesday morning, Ms Truss thanked her family and her aides for their support during her short but chaotic stint as prime minister. She also doubled down on her “growth” plan, which caused market turmoil.
Read her full speech in full below:
It has been a huge honour to be Prime Minister of this great country.
In particular, to lead the nation in mourning the death of Her Late Majesty The Queen after 70 years of service,and welcoming the accession of His Majesty King Charles III.
In just a short period, this government has acted urgently and decisively on the side of hardworking families and businesses.
We reversed the National Insurance increase.
We helped millions of households with their energy bills and helped thousands of businesses avoid bankruptcy.
We are taking back our energy independence…
…so we are never again beholden to global market fluctuations or malign foreign powers.
From my time as Prime Minister, I am more convinced than ever we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face.
As the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
We simply cannot afford to be a low growth country where the government takes up an increasing share of our national wealth…
and where there are huge divides between different parts of our country.
We need to take advantage of our Brexit freedoms to do things differently.
This means delivering more freedom for our own citizens and restoring power in democratic institutions.
It means lower taxes, so people keep more of the money they earn.
It means delivering growth that will lead to more job security, higher wages and greater opportunities for our children and grandchildren.
Democracies must be able to deliver for their own people…
We must be able to outcompete autocratic regimes, where power lies in the hands of a few.
And now more than ever we must support Ukraine in their brave fight against Putin’s aggression.
Ukraine must prevail.
And we must continue to strengthen our nation’s defences.
That is what I have been striving to achieve… and I wish Rishi Sunak every success, for the good of our country.
I want to thank Hugh, Frances, Liberty, my family and friends, and all the team at No10 for their love, friendship and support.
I also want to thank my protection team.
I look forward to spending more time in my constituency, and continuing to serve South West Norfolk from the backbenches.
Our country continues to battle through a storm.
But I believe in Britain.
I believe in the British people.
And I know that brighter days lie ahead.
