The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss took office on Tuesday afternoon, September 6, the day after her election as leader of the Conservative Party. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs comes to power in a particularly difficult context and will not only have to meet many challenges, but also very quickly.
” Deliver, deliver, deliver » : in his fair speech after his election and in her distinctive choppy tone, Liz Truss promises the Conservative Party to ” keep his promises », « for the British people “. This Tuesday morning, the front pages of all the daily newspapers in the country call, in one way or another, on their new Prime Minister to act very quickly to improve a difficult context for the country.
The most pressing for the British, and the priority for Liz Truss, is the economic crisis. ” I really hope she does somethingsighs Dawn, a London retiree. Gas bills, electricity bills… Life is getting so expensive! »
Inflation is already over 10% and, according to the think tank Economic Resolution Foundation, the worst is yet to come: ” the peak of inflation could reach 18% in the springexplains researcher Lalitha Try. Inflation is mainly caused by energy prices: the regulator has just raised the ceiling by 80% from October. »
►Read also: United Kingdom: in the face of inflation, consumers refuse to pay their energy bills
Households could then pay more than 3,000 pounds per year from this fall (about 4,100 euros), while the finances of the British are already to the test. Clare Moriarty, who runs the legal and economic aid network CitizensAdvice, describes an almost unprecedented summer: ” Our counselors referred a record number of people to food banks. ” She also recounts the explosion of requests for help to pay energy bills, ” what we see especially in winter, usually “.
Inflation that handicaps households and public services
Without government action, the average income will fall by 10% in the next two yearsexplains Lalitha Try. Three million people will plunge into absolute poverty within a year. ” The think tank suggests a targeted approach to specifically benefit the most vulnerable. The government of Liz Truss should present its plan to fight the energy crisis in the week.
Inflation, already serious, aggravates another crisis: that of public services. ” Liz Truss is going to have to deal with the fact that NHS [National Health Service, le système de santé gratuit britannique, NDLR] is on his knees », defied this Monday opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer.
Rick, retired disenchanted with politics, is sorry: ” This morning alone, I had to wait an hour on the phone before I could reach my doctor.… »
A generalized crisis
The lack of means and personnel also concerns education, justice, the post office… Since the beginning of the summer, strikes follow one another to demand wage increases equal to inflation and more resources.
” Wage increases, even below inflation, will require either increased public spending or cuts », explains Nick Davies, researcher in charge of public services for the think tank Institute for Government (IfG).
The Covid-19 pandemic has lengthened waiting lists in all areas, and staff shortages are making it difficult to catch up. According to Nick Davies, ” our problems recruiting and retaining recruits are likely to get worse without inflation-comparable wage increases. There is no easy or quick fix. »
If Liz Truss, during the campaign, promised to increase the budget for the NHS and education, she also pledged to lower taxes for the British.
A busy international program
In addition to a heavy domestic to-do list, the new Prime Minister also has her work cut out for her internationally. Former partisan of the maintenance in the European Union, but become pro-Brexit, Liz Truss seems left to continue the confrontation started by Boris Johnson with Brussels.
” She will uphold the Northern Irish Protocol Act “says Alex Thomas, head of the public service at the IFG. This text plans to return to the customs arrangements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, pro-London, which are the subject of an international agreement signed by London.
►Read also: The European Union is wary of the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs must also take over on the Ukrainian file, while his predecessor was admired by Ukrainians. In interviews with the British pressPresident Volodimir Zelensky described him as ” real friend “: ” Boris [Johnson] played a significant role [dans la guerre]. He has done a lot. »
Ridiculed by Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow in early FebruaryLiz Truss Must Maintain Support logistics and politics from London to kyiv to hope to gain the same respect there as his former boss.
Convince voters beyond activists
The last challenge for Liz Truss will be to convince the voters: elected by a minority of Britons, ie the 170,000 members of the Conservative Party, she inherits a comfortable majority of 80 seats in Westminster. This record was set by Boris Johnson in 2019, who won historically Labor constituencies from ” red wall in the north of England. Only, these deputies had preferred Rishi Sunak to him in the first phases of the election at the head of the party.
” She will be judged on her approach to the economic crisissays Robert Shrimsley, political columnist at the Financial Times. She is elected as conservative right candidatepro-tax cut, but socially she risks being pressured into making decisions contrary to her political beliefs “.
The new leader could therefore quickly lose the support of her party by being too generous, or that of the new strongholds by being too strict a conservatism. The next legislative elections are scheduled for 2024. If they were held tomorrow, Labor would lead the Tories by 15 points.
►Listen: Strikes in the UK: “If they are so many, it means that people are really at the end of their tether”