What happens if Liz Truss resigns today?
Prime Minister Liz Truss has had the worst start to her premiership than any other PM. And the last 48 hours in Westminster have been chaos.
There are rumours that the Liz Truss era is fast approaching its end, and many are plotting to oust her from No 10.
She has only been in the job since September 5.
In that time, the Queen died, Liz Truss crashed the economy, her mini-budget has been ripped up and replaced with policies that she campaigned against during the leadership race, she fired her chancellor and replaced him with a Rishi Sunak supporter, her home secretary resigned and offered up a scathing letter and there were reports of bullying from her cabinet at last night’s Commons vote.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was fired after the mini-budget spooked the financial markets. Many argue that Truss should have gone with him as it was her financial vision as his.
READ – PM in crisis: Suella Braverman quits and voting chaos
How does a Tory leadership election work?
According to the 1922 Committee, an incumbent Tory PM cannot face a confidence vote within their first year on the job. But there is speculation that this rule could be changed.
After that 12-month period, to trigger a contest vote, 15 per cent of Tory MPs would have to submit letters of no confidence to 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady. If at least 50 per cent of MPs then vote no-confidence in their leader, a leadership election begins.
Tory MPs who want to be in the race for the top job will then seek nominations from their colleagues. There will be a series of ballots which will see all the candidates whittled down to just two. The rank and file of the Conservative party will then choose the winner.
Boris Johnson won the general election in 2019 and although he was ousted and replaced with Truss there is no requirement for the Conservative party to call a general election.
Some MPs are understood to want to avoid putting the vote back to the ordinary members of the party. The Telegraph says some MPs want the parliamentary party to choose Truss’s successor, though others warn that this would require a complicated rule change.
This aligns with newspaper reports that say the Tories want to put Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt in office on a “golden ticket” type deal.
READ – Can Liz Truss save her job?
What happens if Liz Truss resigns today?
If Liz Truss resigns as Conservative leader and Prime Minister today, a leadership contest would begin.
Those wanting to get into No 10 would begin trying to get support for their campaign.
However, it is possible that the Tory parliamentary party could rally around a single candidate for the leadership. This would perhaps be seen as a better option as it will avoid time-wasting.
If Truss does not resign and attempts to cling on to power against the will of MPs and peers, the 1922 Committee could and would likely change the rules to allow an early challenge to her (changing the 12-month rule). This would likely see her removal from both leadership of the party and as prime minister.
Can we have a general election?
Labour and Liberal Democrats are amongst those calling for an early general election. But the government is not legally obliged to hold another general election before January 2025 – surely to the delight of Conservatives as the latest opinion polls suggest the Tories would lose most of their seats.
LIVE BLOG- PM RESIGNS
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has insisted on his desire to reach a free trade agreement with the United States and announced that his country will join the policy of reciprocal tariffs proposed by the Government of Donald Trump.
In a speech received by applause and cheers at the Conservative Polic Your country to achieve a commercial agreement with the US.
“If we were not restricted by Mercosur, Argentina would already be working on a NAFTA with the US that is mutually beneficial and not unfairly loaded on the backs of Argentine producers,” said the South American president.
Last January, the president indicated the Davos economic forum in Switzerland that he would be willing to leave the commercial block if it were the “only way” to achieve this treaty with Washington.
In his speech, where he praised the work of Magnate Elon Musk within the Republican government and congratulated the cuts to the US humanitarian aid through the USAID agency, Milei said that his country wants to be the “first” to join the “Reciprocity agreement that Trump asks for commercial matters.”
Trump announced last week the imposition of “reciprocal tariffs” to countries that tax US products, with the aim of equalizing the rates that these nations apply to US exports.
In turn, he signed 25% tariffs on all imports of aluminum and steel, which will enter into force on March 12 and will affect Argentina.
Mercosur, meanwhile, has been in conversations with the European Union to reach a commercial agreement that counteracted the tariffs imposed by Washington.
The two regions closed a pact last December, which must still pass a legal filter and needs to be ratified by the pertinent parliaments of the Member States. Effect
Beijing asks the US to stop restrictions
For its part, the Chinese government has urged the United States on Sunday to stop the restrictions proposed to the maritime, logistics and naval construction sectors of the Asian country, since it considers that they will end up damaging the US interests themselves.
Thus, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has reacted to the last decision of the Office of the United States Commercial Representative (USTR), which last Friday announced that it will invite the public to comment on the proposed measures against China, including the imposition of port fees , within the framework of section 301 of the Commerce Law of the North American country.
In a statement, China’s portfolio has warned that proposed sanctions “would not revitalize” the United States naval industry.
In the opinion, “transport costs would increase on the US -related sea routes, increase internal inflationary pressure, reduce the global competitiveness of their products and harm the interests of their ports, port operators and workers.”
“In the US, there is also a strong opposition to these measures. In addition, several countries and organizations have expressed their discontent and opposition to US investigation,” according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
During the investigation under section 301, which began in March 2024, China has provided position documents and urged to “return to a rational and objective approach” and to stop blaming Beijing “for its own problems of internal industrial development “, remembered in the note.
“It is unfortunate that the US continues to act stubbornly and continue advancing on the wrong way,” said the Ministry, which has urged the US to “respect the facts and multilateral norms” already “stop their wrong actions.”
After the investigation, the US commercial representative has concluded that Chinese practices in these sectors are “unreasonable” and harm or restrict US trade, being processable under sections 301 and 304 of the United States Commerce Law.
Economic disputes
Specifically, USTR considers that the Chinese strategy of exercising a dominant position “displaces foreign companies, deprives companies oriented to the market and their workers’ workers, and reduces competition and creates dependencies with respect to China.”
“The search for dominance by China hinders or restricts US trade by undermining commercial opportunities and investments in the maritime, logistics and naval construction sectors of the United States,” says the USTR.
The Chinese ministry asks the United States to stop “using economic and commercial disputes between the two powers, after the US president Donald Trump, signed an executive order to restrict access to US technology by Several countries, including China.
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