Britain to get a new Prime Minister on Monday

After the announcement of the result of the contest between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, Queen Elizabeth II will invite the winner to form a new govt. on Tuesday, following Johnson’s resignation

The U.K. will get a new Prime Minister on Tuesday, with the Conservative Party leadership contest between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak having concluded on Friday. Ms Truss is expected to win a majority of the votes from over 1,60,000 Conservative members, unless the polls and bookmakers have consistently been off the mark.

The results of the contest — described by some of the British press as a ‘psychodrama’ — will be announced at 12.30 p.m. on Monday. The new Prime Minister will replace Boris Johnson after Queen Elizabeth II invites the winner to form a new government on Tuesday, following Mr Johnson’s resignation .

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday morning, Ms. Truss said there would be an announcement about tackling “eye-watering” energy bills and long-term energy supply within one week of her hypothetical appointment as Prime Minister, but declined to provide details.

“Well, I absolutely accept that we face very, very serious challenges, which will take immediate action,” she said in response to a question about whether the U.K. was at a crisis point.

Ms. Truss, who reiterated her commitment to roll back National Insurance (i.e., social security) tax increases by the current Tory government, said that it was fair that people who pay more into the system (i.e, wealthier people) are benefited more from the policy.

“But to look at everything through the lens of redistribution, I believe is wrong. Because what I’m about is about growing the economy and growing the economy benefits everybody,” she said, stressing that the rollback was needed because the government had said it would not raise these taxes, but had done so.

Mr. Sunak also spoke to the BBC on Sunday. While also declining to name the amount Britons would receive to help pay energy bills, Mr. Sunak provided some indication of how he would tackle the situation, pointing to his record as Chancellor — when he introduced a furlough scheme through which employers were supported in keeping employees on their payrolls.