Brummies have reacted with gloom to the news that Liz Truss is Britain’s next Prime Minister with one quipping “we’re doomed.” Another BirminghamLive reader took to Facebook and joked: “With all this delivering maybe she should have applied to Royal Mail for a job.”
Truss became the country’s third female PM after securing victory in the Tory leadership contest. She defeated rival Rishi Sunak by 81,326 votes to 60,399 and will take over on Tuesday with the immediate challenge of easing the cost-of-living crisis for households across the country faced with soaring energy bills.
In her victory speech, Truss said: “Thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on earth.” She concluded her speech with a promise to “deliver a great victory” for her party in two years’ time.
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But Brummies took to BirminghamLive’s Facebook page to give their reaction to the news and it was not pleasant reading for the new prime-minister.
Gee Barnett said: “Come back Boris, we were only joking.” David Williams said: “She won’t change anything it’s just a mess.!
Tara-Louise Pretswell posted: “Either way we are doomed!!” Lisa Brown agreed and also said: “We’re doomed.”
Michael Gregg said: “She has NO CHARISMA ANOTHER THERESA MAY.” Michael Morris quipped back: “Maybe a better dancer than May.”
Another Facebook user commented: “With all this delivering maybe she should have applied to Royal Mail for a job.” Deborah Perry said the current energy crisis was vital for voters and posted: “Just get the cost of living down n ill vote for you.”
Brummies have also been giving their reaction to the news on the streets. Spencer McAndrew, who lives in Sutton Coldfield – a Tory constituency – but was visiting Birmingham city centre on Monday, said: “I was disappointed when I heard the news.
“Straight away I just thought ‘female Boris’, and I’m not a fan of Boris. I think she’s tripped herself up, many times, really.
“But I’ve got to give her the benefit of the doubt. The Conservative Party have voted for us – let’s see how it goes.”
Birmingham resident Carol Lewis, who was enjoying the sunshine in Victoria Square, said: “It’s very small number of people who have chosen this woman. I don’t really see she’s got a real mandate to be honest. I don’t think her focus will be on helping ordinary people.
“I think there is a very strong streak through the Tory party where it’s looking after themselves and their own mates, and uncle Algernon who owns the water company and everything else.
“I think it’s very sad, I think they’ve become a party of a very small group of people who are out of touch. That’s how I see her: an out-of-touch woman who doesn’t really care, self-seeking, ambitious.
“She’s got what she wants and I’ll be very interested to see what she does now she’s in power.” Matt Smith, another Birmingham resident, speaking in Victoria Square in the city centre, said: “I fail to see anything positive from the Tory party, from Liz Truss taking over from Boris Johnson.
“Certain people said they look back on Boris’s time as being a good time, it flabbergasts me, they (the Tories) are so self-absorbed. He has just changed British politics, by his lies, forever. It is so sad to see standards in public life are so low.”
Euan Healy said: “She’s going to be a disaster, 12 years of Tories, what have they done to this country. We’re in a cost-of-living crisis now, and they could have done something; dealt with the energy crisis for the last 12 years, dealt with the housing crisis for the last 12 years. They haven’t got any new ideas.
“Replace the leader all you want, it’s the same people. The same Tories all the time.”
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