If Liz Truss does make it to No 10, she can’t expect a very long political honeymoon

The Foreign Secretary has focused entirely on winning over Tory activists but she will need to reach out to the country as a whole, or risk a very unhappy beginning to her premiership

August 19, 2022 8:27 pm(Updated 9:16 pm)

Unless the polls are dramatically wrong, Liz Truss is 17 days away from becoming the Prime Minister. She seems to have convinced most Conservative members that her can-do attitude and free-market ideology are the tonic Britain needs.

Predictions from her critics that the Foreign Secretary would fall apart under the scrutiny of a leadership election have been wrong. Ms Truss has been assured during debates and has put forward a more consistent policy offering than Rishi Sunak.

But assuming she does make it to No 10, she cannot expect a very long political honeymoon.

Inflation is already running in double digits, we learnt this week, and the October rise in the energy price cap will drive up costs yet further. Energy prices are not capped for businesses, meaning many could fold without help from the Government.

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Ms Truss has a plan for the cost of living: she will remove green levies from energy bills, reverse the national insurance rise and stop a looming increase in corporation tax.

But as i reveals, the public isn’t buying it. A solid majority of voters – including most Conservative supporters – think an expansion of the existing scheme of targeted cash handouts is the best way to help people cope with the crisis.

Voters appear to prefer Rishi Sunak as the steward of the economy – and, even more damagingly, they prefer Sir Keir Starmer too.

Even if the other problems afflicting Britain – droughts, floods, train strikes – fade, Ms Truss will have to deal with an inflation crisis the likes of which politicians have not seen for decades. That will be compounded by the sight of a health service under extreme pressure.

It is understandable that she has focused entirely on winning over Tory activists. But she knows it will soon be time to reach out to the country as a whole, or risk a very unhappy beginning to her premiership.