Prime Minister Liz Truss' week is not getting better. After a widely criticised mini-budget announced last Friday (September 23), that spooked markets prompting the Bank of England (BoE) to intervene to stabilise financial markets, Ms Truss is facing growing calls to hold a general election.
More than 145,000 people have signed a Parliament petition asking for an "immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government". Ms Truss has held office for less than one month.
Backlash started following chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget announcing £45billion worth of tax cuts. As reported by Express, the pound plummeted shortly after, which is the reason why the BoE was forced to make an emergency intervention.
Ms Truss has also been hit by a polling blow that shows Labour with a massive 33-point lead. This suggests the Tories could be heading for general election oblivion.
Now a petition on the petition.parliament.uk website launched before the mini-budget, entitled 'Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current Government', has quickly attracted more than 145,000 signatures.
The number of signatures also means the threshold of 100,000 required for the motion to be considered for a debate in the House of Commons has been met. The online petition, set up by Darrin Charlesworth, reads: "Call an immediate general election so that the people can decide who should lead us through the unprecedented crises threatening the UK.
"The chaos engulfing the UK government is unprecedented. Over 40 ministers resigned leaving departments without leadership during cost of living, energy and climate crises.
"War rages in Ukraine; the Northern Ireland Protocol has further damaged our relationship with Europe; recession looms; the UK itself may cease to exist as Scotland seeks independence. This is the greatest set of challenges we have seen in our lifetimes.
"Let the people decide who leads us through this turmoil." The Cabinet Office is aware of the petition.
They responded to the petition on September 20 by saying: "The UK is a Parliamentary democracy and the Conservative Party remains the majority party. The Prime Minister has pledged to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations."
The new petition milestone comes with the Prime Minister breaking her silence yesterday (Thursday, September 29) nearly a week after the controversial mini-budget sent markets tumbling. Ms Truss insisted she would stick to her plan to reignite economic growth, with the comments coming a day after the BoE resumed its bond-buying in an emergency move to protect pension funds from partial collapse
She told BBC radio: "We had to take urgent action to get our economy growing, get Britain moving, and also deal with inflation, and of course, that means taking controversial and difficult decisions. But I'm prepared to do that as prime minister because what's important to me is that we get our economy moving."
Mr Kwarteng said during a visit to a local business in northern England: "The mini-budget was absolutely essential in resetting the debate around growth and focusing us on delivering much better growth outcomes." However a new poll from YouGov showed Labour surging ahead of the Tories with a 33-point lead.
This is the highest of any recorded poll since the late 1990s. The results of the survey of 1,712 adults on Wednesday and Thursday of this week comes just days before Ms Truss is set to take the stage at her first Conservative Party conference as Prime Minister.
For Westminster voting intention, the poll showed Labour currently sits on 54%. This is a huge 33 points ahead of the Tories who are way on 21%.
The Conservatives have fallen by seven points in the past four days, handing Labour a mammoth lead against the party, according to the poll. When asked who they would make the best Prime Minister, 44% picked Sir Keir Starmer compared with just 15% for Ms Truss when it came down to the pair.
But what will concern Ms Truss even more is that only 37% of 2019 voters would stick with the party at the next general election.
