Liz Truss has set 2024 as the date of the next general election amid immediate calls from opponents to go to the country after winning the Tory leadership contest.
Scottish Labour leaderAnas Sarwar beat the new PM to the draw with calls for an early general election.
He said: “Make no mistake, this is not a fresh start for the Tory party or for our country. The time is up for the Tory party - only Labour can replace them.”
Sarwar added: “Liz Truss might claim to be different to her predecessor, but the grim reality is that a Tory party that has lost touch with reality will still be failing families across the UK.
“Instead of the fresh start our country needs, the best the Tories can deliver is more deceit, division, and distraction.
Roz Foyer, the leader of the STUC, echoed the call to give voters a voice.
She said: “No good for Scotland can ever come from a Tory Prime Minister. We need a General Election not a Tory party coronation. The first thing Liz Truss needs to do is call that general election so we can oust this uncaring and cruel government from office, holding them accountable for this catastrophic cost of living emergency.”
She added: “Workers have had enough. The new Prime Minister is on notice that our movement no longer accepts the contempt in which UK Government politicians hold us – and we’re mobilising to do something about it.
The SNP said Liz Truss must “get on with it” and deliver a major package of cost of living support without further delay.
Ian Blackford MP said it was “unforgivable” that the Tory government had “wasted the summer sitting on its hands” and urged there is “no time to waste” in freezing energy bills and delivering the support that households and businesses need.
The SNP Westminster Leader said the tone of the Tory leadership campaign suggested Liz Truss is shaping up to be “even worse than Boris Johnson” with another “shift to the right” under Westminster control.
In her victory speech Truss said she needed two years to show her “bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy” will deliver.
She said: “I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
“We all will deliver for our country and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party, and we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024.”
But with a result closer than expected, Truss had support of 57 per cent of Conservative members, and the huge challenges facing the incoming Prime Minister, all political parties are putting supporters on a war-footing in case the new Prime Minister calls a snap election.
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