Liz Truss has resigned as Prime Minister after admitting she could not deliver the mandate on which she was elected as Conservative leader.
She quit after just 44 days in office following chaos in the House of Commons last night over the fracking vote - a night of drama that itself followed weeks of turmoil after the disastrous mini-Budget.
She spoke at a lectern in 10 Downing Street to say she was quitting as Conservative leader and would stand down as Prime Minister once her successor was elected.
She said she had spoken to the leader of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady and that there would now be a leadership election to be completed within a week.
With her husband Hugh O’Leary alongside her, Ms Truss said: “I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability.
“Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.”
Vladimir Putin’s “illegal war in Ukraine threatens the security of our whole continent”.
She said the UK had been “held back for too long by low economic growth”.
Ms Truss said she had been elected to deliver change, saying: “We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance.
“We set out a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.”
But she said: “I recognise… given the situation I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”
She continued: “This morning I met the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.
“We’ve agreed that there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week.
“This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security.
“I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen."
On Twitter after Ms Truss had spoke, Nicola Sturgeon said: "There are no words to describe this utter shambles adequately. It’s beyond hyperbole - & parody. Reality tho is that ordinary people are paying the price. The interests of the Tory party should concern no-one right now. A General Election is now a democratic imperative."
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also called for an immediate general election.
He said: “The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern.
“After 12 years of Tory failure, the British people deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos. In the last few years, the Tories have set record-high taxation, trashed our institutions and created a cost-of-living crisis. Now, they have crashed the economy so badly that people are facing £500 a month extra on their mortgages. The damage they have done will take years to fix.
“Each one of these crises was made in Downing Street but paid for by the British public. Each one has left our country weaker and worse off.
“The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people. They do not have a mandate to put the country through yet another experiment; Britain is not their personal fiefdom to run how they wish.
“The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future. They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future. We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.”
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