British Conservative Party leader Truss is expected to be appointed as the new prime minister

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s ruling Conservative Party leader and next prime minister, Liz Truss, is set to take office at a time when the country grapples with a cost-of-living crisis, industrial unrest and an economic recession.

After weeks of vying for the leadership of the often poor and divisive party that pitted Truss against Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister, Monday’s announcement at 1130 GMT will kick off the handover of power from Boris Johnson. He was forced to announce his resignation in July, months after the scandal.

On Tuesday, the winner will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth, who will ask the new leader to form a government.

Long the frontrunner in the race to succeed Johnson, Truss, if appointed, would become the fourth Conservative prime minister since the 2015 election. During that time, the country has struggled from one crisis to the next, and is now facing what is expected to be a prolonged stagnation brought on by soaring inflation that reached 10.1% in July.

Boris Johnson’s foreign secretary, Truss, 47, has vowed to move quickly to tackle Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, saying he would draw up a plan within a week to tackle rising energy bills and secure future fuel supplies.

Speaking in a television interview on Sunday, she declined to give details of the measures she says will reassure millions of people who fear they won’t be able to pay their fuel bills as winter approaches. Read more

She has signaled during her election campaign that she will defy tradition by scrapping tax increases and cutting other fees that some economists say will fuel inflation.

This, combined with a pledge to review the Bank of England’s transfers while protecting its independence, has prompted some investors to dump the pound and government bonds.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies last month cast doubt on who the next British prime minister would have scope to make big and permanent tax cuts. Read more

“A Second More Difficult Post-War Brief”

Truss faces a long, expensive and difficult to implement list that opposition MPs say is the result of 12 years of weak Conservative government. Several of them called for early elections — something that Truss said she would not allow.

Veteran Conservative MP David Davis described the challenges she will face as prime minister as “perhaps the second most difficult post-war brief for prime ministers” after Conservative Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

“I actually don’t think any of the candidates, and none of them going through it, really know how big this is,” he said, adding that costs could run into tens of billions of pounds.

Truss said she would appoint a strong government, dispensing with what a source close to her described as a “presidential style” of governance.

First, it will touch on the pressing issue of rising energy prices. Average annual household utility bills are set to jump 80% in October to 3,549 pounds ($4,084), before the forecast rises to 6,000 pounds in 2023, destroying personal finances.

Britain has lagged behind other major European countries in its bid to support consumer energy bills, which opposition lawmakers blame on a zombie government unable to act while the Conservatives ran a leadership contest. Read more

In May, the government put in place a £15 billion support package to help families with energy bills as part of its £37 billion cost of living support scheme.

Italy has committed more than 52 billion euros ($51.75 billion) so far this year to help its people. In France, increases in electricity bills were capped at 4% and Germany said on Sunday it would spend at least 65 billion euros to protect consumers and businesses from rising inflation.

(dollar = 0.8690 pounds)

(1 dollar = 1.0049 euros)

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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