A Perthshire MP has called for a General Election after Liz Truss yesterday announced she was stepping down as Prime Minister after just 45 days at the helm.
Tory MPs urged Ms Truss to go after her government was engulfed by political turmoil following the ditching of most of her economic policies.
Her resignation comes after a key minister quit and Tory MPs rebelled in a parliamentary vote, in what is now the shortest premiership in British political history.
Ms Truss was elected by the Tory membership in September, but she lost authority after a series of U-turns.
Trouble began when her first Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced his mini-budget on September 23, which involved controversial tax breaks.
She spoke to the world’s media outside 10 Downing Street at 1.30pm on Thursday, October 20.
She said she came into office at a time of “great economic and international instability” but added: “I recognise, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”
Speaking to the PA in the immediate aftermath of the statement, Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart said: “This has been the most disastrous premiership in modern history.
“I can only feel sorry for Liz Truss. This is an example of what happens when someone comes in with a set ideological agenda that just goes wrong.
“What needs to happen now is we need to hear a clear timeline for the earliest General Election date.
“We can’t have a second Prime Minister decided within the Conservative Party. Now it looks like it would be decided by some cabal of senior Tories.
“It has been most disastrous for the British people who have had to pay for it with the cost of living crisis and rising inflation.”
