MP Ian Lavery column: It's time to call another general election

MP Ian Lavery says Liz Truss should step down and a general election should be held.

We need a general election. The last month has been a disaster for the Prime Minister and Conservative Party that has crushed our international reputation and thrown our economy into turmoil.

Liz Truss can only be described as an out of power Prime Minister. The stunning decision to sack her Chancellor and long term political ally Kwasi Kwarteng after just a month in the job shattered any illusion of authority or direction she still clung on to.

Truss ran on a clear economic programme that she then implemented when she got into office. It was a disaster, out of touch with economic and political reality and the feeling of the British people. This was only able to happen because the internal dramas playing out inside the Conservative Party were allowed to spill over into the real world.

Truss and her policies were never voted for by anyone save a handful of Conservative Party loyalists, most of whom were simply voting for the lesser of two evils after Sunak was painted as the architect of Boris Johnson’s demise.

Now we have Jeremy Hunt as the new Chancellor imposing a fresh round of austerity and cuts, another economic program that nobody voted for and one in which those implementing it will not feel the brutal effects that have been felt across Wansbeck and beyond for the past decade.

Who runs Britain today? It is certainly not Liz Truss. The plans announced by the new Chancellor are the complete opposite of those put forward by Truss in her leadership election and during her few weeks of office.

In 2019 the Conservatives were elected on the back on leaving the EU and ‘levelling up’ the North, not more austerity or tax cuts for the richest one per cent.

We cannot have a new Prime Minister and Chancellor every few months dismantling their predecessor's work and implementing a fresh round of radical economic measures. The behaviour of the Conservative Party this last year has become a serious threat to our democracy.

Whatever happens next we need a general election as soon as possible.

The only thing left for a party devoid of ideas or direction is to call a general election for the sake of the country and the people suffering at the hand of their incompetence who deserve to have their voices heard.

• This column was written before Liz Truss stepped down on Thursday.