Polls: Liz Truss likely to be next UK PM

The next British Prime Minister is expected to be Conservative Liz Truss, polls show. With the election of a new party leader by postal and online ballots beginning this week, the Foreign Secretary extended her lead over the former Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak. She received 60% support from party members, compared to 26% from Sunak, according to the poll.

After she claimed that Chief Minister Nicola Sturgeon was an “attention seeker”, her lead narrowed from more than 20 points to just five points.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) condemns her comments and pledges to continue to push for a second independence referendum.
John Swinney, the deputy chief minister of Scotland, called her comments “obnoxious”, noting that Sturgeon had greater democratic legitimacy than Truss would if she became prime minister.

Despite the narrow referendum vote in 2014, the Scottish National Party is seeking a second referendum in October 2023.

Truss and Sunak have been promising policy reforms on a daily basis to address British concerns about the economy, as well as to curry favor with right-wing elements of the Conservative Party during the transition from the Johnson government.For public-sector pay outside London, Truss proposed the creation of “regional pay boards” as part of her “war on Whitehall waste”.

It is claimed by her campaign that the plan would save £8.8 billion ($10.75 billion) a year if it were to cover “all public-sector workers in the long term.”

Conservatives in more deprived regions of England criticized the idea since it would affect health care and government employees.
In an apparent U-turn, a Truss campaign spokesperson claimed on Tuesday that there had been a deliberately misrepresentation of Truss’ plan to slash public-sector salaries.