United Kingdom: the new Prime Minister faces the opposition in Parliament

Britain’s newest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will address Parliament for the first time on Wednesday, as Labor opposition soaring in the polls is calling for a snap election in a country in the throes of economic and political crisis.

For the first time, a non-white, Hindu head of government from a former English colony, the youngest in recent history, will face the deputies of the House of Commons at midday, during the traditional session of questions to the Prime Minister, often very lively.

The Labor opposition, well ahead in the polls, calls for these early general elections almost every day, without waiting for 2024, denouncing the policy of the Conservatives who “have torn the economy to pieces”.

Rishi Sunak, the only official candidate after the resignation of Liz Truss last week, took office after being chosen Monday within hours by the Conservative Party, without having said a word in public and without consulting party members. .

This summer, the latter had preferred Liz Truss to the extremely wealthy ex-minister of Finance, who in the midst of a crisis in the cost of living, with inflation at 10%, called for budgetary prudence and denounced the “fairy tales” of her rival .

Became the third British Prime Minister in less than 50 days on Tuesday and the sixth since Brexit in 2016, Rishi Sunak however ruled out the early elections that the Conservatives, for 12 years in power, would be sure to lose.

According to an Ipsos poll published on Monday, 62% of voters want such an election before the end of 2022.

– New government –

After meeting King Charles III who instructed him to form a government, Rishi Sunak announced on Tuesday “difficult decisions” in the face of the economic crisis and promised to “fix” the “mistakes” of Liz Truss, who had resigned after 44 days in power.

“Sunak and his wife sit on a fortune of 730,000,000 pounds. That’s twice the estimated fortune of King Charles III. Keep that in mind when he talks about making + difficult decisions +”, tackled the deputy Labor Nadia Whittome.

Supporter of a reduction in spending to curb inflation, rather than resorting to debt to support households – a policy favored by Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak has reappointed Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, who since his appointment disaster in mid-October brought a semblance of calm to the markets.

He is due to present new budgetary measures on October 31.

– Return of Raab –

Rishi Sunak is seeking to bring together deeply divided Tory MPs after 12 years in power. He managed to glean the support of former Boris Johnson faithful to be elected despite some having accused him of treason in July when his resignation from the Ministry of Finance, followed by around sixty others, had led to the departure of “BoJo”.

Dominic Raab – a close ally of Mr. Sunak – meanwhile regained his role as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice which he had to abandon after the resignation of Boris Johnson.

Suella Braverman, appointed in September Minister of the Interior by Liz Truss and who had slammed the door last week, also finds her post. Influential in the right wing of the party, she has a very tough position on immigration.

In the midst of the war in Ukraine, Defense Ministers Ben Wallace and Foreign Affairs Minister James Cleverly also kept their portfolios.

For his first appeal to a foreign leader, Rishi Sunak spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening and assured him of the “unwavering support” of the United Kingdom in the face of the Russian invasion. He also spoke by telephone with US President Joe Biden.