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Just 2% of Britons think Liz Truss did well as prime minister

Almost two thirds of Britons say she has been a ‘terrible’ PM

Emily Atkinson
Thursday 20 October 2022 20:33 BST
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Just 2 per cent of Britons consider Liz Truss to have been a “good” or “great” prime minsiter, an eviscerating poll reveals.

The Tory leader resigned following a chaotic 45-day premiership which began in the shadows of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and ended under the glare of the economic commotion ignited by Kwasi Kwarteng’s largely retracted mini-Budget.

Announcing her resignation outside the door to No 10 on Thursday afternoon, Ms Truss confirmed there will be another leadership election to be completed within the next week.

As Conservative MPs prepare to elect our third prime minister of the year, a snap YouGov poll found that almost two thirds of Britons (64 per cent) say she has been a “terrible” prime minister, with a further 18 per cent describing her performance as “poor”.

Just 1 per cent out of the 2,066 British adults surveyed thought her performance was “good” and the same percentage thought she was “great”.

And the resoundingly negative view of her premiership has trickled down into the ranks of her own party, with most Tory voters likewise giving her the worst possible rating of terrible (57 per cent), and another 24 per cent branding her as poor.

In addition, an overwhelming 79 per cent of particpants thought that Ms Truss was right to resign, including 81 per cent of Conservative voters. Just 7 per cent believed she was wrong to do so, including 11 per cent of Tories.

In another blow to her short-lived tenure, more than 36 per cent of Britons said they wanted the next prime minister to call an early general election. Meanwhile, just 23 per cent want to see them get to work without committing to a national ballot

It comes as The Independent’s petition calling for a general election to be held in the UK following recent political furore surpassed 200,000 signatures.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also called for an “immediate” national ballot, saying the Conservative Party had shown it no longer had a mandate to govern the country.

Despite swelling calls for an electoral contest among the wider British public, Conservative voters appear less eager to face the polls. Half (52 per cent) say Ms Truss’s successor should not call a general election, although more than a third (38 per cent) say that the new PM should subject themselves and their party to a public vote.

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