Truss in numbers: What did the prime minister accomplish during her time in office?

Liz Truss is set to be the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

She said she will remain in office until a successor is chosen.

The results of that leadership election will be announced on Friday next week, so Ms Truss’s tenure will be shorter than previous the record holder George Canning – a record that he held for almost 200 years.

Mr Canning’s 1827 premiership lasted just 118 days, cut short by his death from tuberculosis. When Ms Truss leaves office next Friday she will have lasted 66 days fewer.

Despite being the shortest-serving prime minister, the death of the Queen two days after she started means Ms Truss is the first in 70 years to serve under two different monarchs.

Public opinion

One of the reasons for Ms Truss’s rapid departure is because of her party’s position in the polls since she took office.

Labour’s lead over the Conservatives has not been higher since January 1998, shortly after Tony Blair became prime minister.

If an election was held today, polls suggest that more than half of people in the UK would back Sir Keir Starmer’s party while fewer than a quarter would vote Conservative.

Ms Truss’s personal approval rating became very low, very quickly, reaching -51 on 8 October. Just 16% of people said they were satisfied with her performance, while 67% said they were unsatisfied.

That’s worse than the levels ever reached by Boris Johnson, despite his longer time in power. It’s the lowest rating since Gordon Brown reached the same level in July 2008 during the depths of the financial crisis.

Political instability

The prime minister’s six weeks in office were defined by political turmoil and the resignation of her two most senior ministers.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s resignation after just 38 days in the Treasury makes him the second shortest-serving chancellor since 1945.

And when Suella Braverman resigned on Wednesday she became only the second home secretary to serve for fewer than 50 days since the office was established in 1782.

Changes in personnel during Ms Truss’s short time in office were matched by frequent changes in policy.

Taking office on 6 September, her first day, Liz Truss said that her priorities would be growing the economy through “tax cuts and reform”, dealing “hands on” with the energy crisis, and improving access to the NHS.

Though her premiership was brief, Ms Truss and her first chancellor, Mr Kwarteng, announced a number of significant tax cuts and a major package of support to help households cope with the energy crisis.

Her legacy will be more limited, however, as on Monday Ms Truss’s second chancellor Jeremy Hunt cancelled nearly all of Mr Kwarteng’s tax-cutting measures, as well as his plans to extend the current energy price guarantee beyond April 2023.

What still remains of her policy announcements are a limited energy support package, the cancelled rise to National Insurance, the uplift to the stamp duty threshold, and the ability of bankers to receive bonuses more than double their salary.

Economic turmoil

Another big reason that Ms Truss was forced to resign was her impact on the economy.

Markets reacted negatively to the agenda she and Mr Kwarteng revealed on 23 September – to the policies themselves and the government’s decision not to submit it for scrutiny to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog.

The mini-budget’s negative reception among international investors led to a sharp fall in the value of the pound against the US dollar.

The exchange rate reached an all-time low of $1.03 to the pound on 26 September, three days after the mini-budget, before rallying over subsequent weeks thanks in part to a response by the Bank of England.

Market volatility and the possibility of a sharp increase in central bank interest rates also led to a surge in predicted interest rates.

Hundreds of mortgage products were withdrawn altogether by lenders, and borrowers on variable rates are facing the prospect of mortgage repayment rises of potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds a month.

Since Jeremy Hunt became chancellor, the predictions for next year have lowered slightly but are still higher than had been expected when Ms Truss became prime minister.

We’ve mentioned many issues caused by Ms Truss’s policies, but it is worth remembering that there are other problems in dire need of attention.

Given the chaos at Westminster in the weeks before Boris Johnson’s resignation three months ago, it’s difficult to argue that there has been an effective government in place in Britain since the summer.

The NHS treatment waiting list reached another record high in figures announced last week – one in eight people are now waiting for treatment.

People are waiting longer than ever for cancer care, for ambulances and in A&E, even before we get to the winter period when effective healthcare typically becomes even more difficult.

What have people been saying on social media?

One of the reasons some MPs were said to be reluctant to remove Liz Truss was that more political instability would mean more delays.

But some members of the public expressing their views on social media on Thursday didn’t seem too sorry to see her go.

The following mind maps were generated using data gathered by Talkwalker, a social listening company, based on Twitter, Tik Tok and YouTube posts from users in the UK.

In the past 24 hours (up to 4pm today), some of the most popular main phrases being posted about Liz Truss include “economic strain”, “desperate attempt”, “ordinary people” and “anti-democratic disgrace”.

Other slightly less frequent phrases include: “cold homes” (referring to concerns over heating costs), “utter chaos” and “dark days”.

“Compassionate Conservatives” is also trending, but when looking at the posts in context they are overwhelmingly using this phrase with either sarcasm or to say the Conservatives are not compassionate.

It is a similar case with the phrase “huge congratulations”, with posters appearing to give sarcastic well-wishes to Ms Truss.

But how does this compare to Liz Truss’s first day in office?

Phrases on 6 September are much more varied and reflect a number of other issues in the news at the time, such as migrants crossing the channel in “small boats” and concerns around the energy crisis, the economic situation and poverty.

Phrases referring directly to Mrs Truss’s appointment as prime minister include both “bleak start” and “fresh start” (mostly people saying they believe Ms Truss is not a fresh start), as well as “low expectations”.

Some posts are positive, with some praising the prime minister’s handling of the media that day as a sign the country was in “safe hands”.

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