Life after Boris Johnson - the UK's new PM

Digital GC expert panel with UK Country Director Alex Dawson; Lead Analyst Joe Armitage; and Director Lilah Howson-Smith.

It was a lively and informative discussion, with some key conclusions:

• Liz Truss' first speech as Prime Minister saw her set out a series of priorities which differed significantly from those set out in her campaign over the summer. The new PM laid out the three key focuses of her premiership, committing to improving the UK economy, reforming the British energy market and 'fixing' the NHS. This contrasted with her pledges throughout the summer, which tended to relate to planning regulations, culture politics and tax.
• Truss is to propose a new energy package that will fix household bills at an average of £2,500 for 18 months. She will do this by signing an agreement with UK energy suppliers in which they will commit to fixing their prices and the government will pay the shortfall. Notably, this will be funded by higher public sector borrowing and is estimated to cost over £100bn which will increase the government debt to around 100% of UK GDP.
• Although the NHS was not a focus of Truss' initial campaign she clearly wants to give it prominence, which she has demonstrated through the appointment of her close ally Thérèse Coffey as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Notably, Coffey is in a unique position as she has also been made deputy prime minister, a role that has not before been twinned with a high-spending position like Health Minister. However, Coffey may struggle to deliver the systematic changes to the NHS she promised in a speech yesterday, as she only has two years before the next election and they will require significant new legislation and funding.
• Notably, Net-Zero policy was absent from Truss' first speech which, alongside the appointment of Net Zero-sceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has climate campaigners nervous about the future of UK decarbonisation. However, although Net Zero is seemingly not a priority for Truss – who, unlike her predecessor, does not see the synergy between Net Zero and UK energy security – the new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is a strong proponent of the renewables sector. This means that Kwarteng is likely to look favourably on funding for low-carbon energy development and suggests the picture in terms of net zero may not be as gloomy as predicted.
• The new premier has chosen to form a cabinet of close allies amongst accusations that she has been too unaccommodating to those who didn’t support her. This is likely because she thinks there needs to be a strong buy-in behind her general strategy. However, her cabinet may also cause her trouble down the road as many 'heavy-hitters' remain on the backbench, and there is growing scope for rebellion on areas of policy most favoured by her supporters. Notably, she has also employed a smaller number of special advisors in No.10 than her predecessor which raises the question of whether she intends to further empower her Secretaries of State.