Experts: UK now facing chaotic political situation

Public faces uncertainty amid increasingly toxic political environment

The state of British politics has been described as chaotic following the resignation of Liz Truss and with a divided Conservative Party in Westminster.

Phil Catney, a senior lecturer in politics at Keele University, said the current political situation is dire, adding "we've never known anything like this in our lifetimes".

"We've seen periods of crisis in British politics, such as in the 1970s,… but this is unprecedented, in a sense that the political elite doesn't seem to know what to do," Catney said. "Brexit at one level is a clear element in this mix. It was a key platform of our model of the economy. It was key element of how British politics was anchored into the European Union. Now that's gone, there isn't really clarity about where we go as a state or as a society. We're a society that's quite culturally divided."

Truss stood down as prime minister just six weeks into the job, amid economic and political turmoil.

"Truss is very much the author of her own downfall," said Catney. "She spent 10 years in the Cabinet and she doesn't seem to know anything about governing a parliamentary democracy. It's quite astonishing. It's extraordinary how badly handled this government has been."

On Monday, Rishi Sunak won the Conservative leadership race to be the UK's next prime minister.

With deep fractures and grievances among the Conservative Party, some experts said it could be difficult for members of Parliament to unite behind the new leader.

"The Conservatives haven't been a united party for a long time," Catney said, citing Brexit as an ongoing problem within the party, which he says is just getting worse.

"It was hoped that the Brexit referendum would heal the party, but it didn't, and 'getting Brexit done' didn't heal it either," the Keele lecturer said.

Wyn Grant, a political scientist and professor of politics at the University of Warwick, said "the state of UK politics is currently chaotic".

He added: "The Conservative Party is deeply divided and cannot agree on a unity candidate to lead them. The opposition parties cannot force a general election, and it would be electoral suicide for the Conservatives at present."

The opposition Labour Party have repeated calls for a general election.

Labour's popularity has grown to a massive 33-point lead in a You-Gov poll since the so-called mini-budget. But with a general election still two years away, this may all change.

Catney said even if Labour took charge, there will still be massive financial and social challenges.

He noted that with the increasingly toxic political environment, it is the public that will be faced with uncertainty.

He added, "People are scared about energy bills, scared about the future economic prospects and even more scared to think that the people in charge, aren't in charge and aren't in control of the situation."

Richard Toye, a history professor at the University of Exeter, said Truss had a "difficult hand and played it appallingly," which resulted in her becoming the shortest serving British prime minister in history.

"Her tenure deserves to be remembered as more than the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question, however, because it symbolized the logical outcome of a broader crisis that for years has gripped the Conservative Party and the UK political system more generally," Toye said.

"Truss may not be remembered as the person who definitively killed the Tories as a political force. That honor will perhaps fall to her successor."

boleung@chindailyuk.com