Liz Truss to be appointed new prime minister of UK

UK: Truss considers freeze on energy bills

The long-running race to succeed Boris Johnson as the United Kingdom's prime minister reached the finish line on Monday when Liz Truss was declared the winner of the vote to lead the ruling Conservative Party.

In the final round of a leadership race that started in July, Truss went head-to-head against ex-chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak, with the foreign secretary defeating the former finance minister by 81,326 to 60,399 votes — 57.4 to 42.6 percent — in the poll of the Conservative Party membership.

The transfer of power will be made official on Tuesday when Johnson and Truss travel to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to get the royal seal of approval from Queen Elizabeth II.

In her acceptance speech after the poll results were announced, Truss said it was an honor to win after "one of the longest job interviews in history", and she promised to "govern on Conservative values", including "the ability to control your own life, low taxes, and personal responsibility".

Truss is expected to lay out her immediate plans for the nation on Thursday. The cost-of-living crisis is likely to top her agenda, after inflation and soaring energy bills have left millions of Britons struggling to remain solvent.

She has promised a "bold plan to cut taxes and grow the economy", and said she would "deliver on the energy crisis, deliver on peoples' energy bills, and deal with the long-term problems we have on energy supply".

Truss said she is considering a freeze on energy bills, according to the BBC. This would involve instructing Ofgem, the UK's energy industry regulatory body, to stop raising the cap on energy prices.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has sent natural gas prices soaring, and the average annual household energy bill in the UK is expected to reach more than 3,500 pounds ($4,026) from October, and to increase markedly in January, up from an average of 575 pounds in 2021, according to the UK government.

Truss has also promised to end green levies, which are environmental charges added to energy bills.

In her speech, Truss thanked outgoing Prime Minister Johnson, who she said had delivered on the UK's exit from the European Union and had overseen a successful COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

Johnson was forced to resign after a series of controversies triggered a spate of ministerial resignations in July.

Truss entered Parliament in 2010 and quickly rose to prominence. She held several Cabinet positions during the premierships of David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson, and was appointed foreign secretary in September last year.