Gloomy view of new PM among city centre visitors

For people out and about in Wolverhampton city centre, the news that Liz Truss had won the vote to become the new leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister was met with pessimism as people digested the news.

Ms Truss won the vote of Conservative members on Monday with 81,326 votes, ahead of former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and has promised a bold programme of tax cuts to grow the flagging economy and prevent the UK tipping into recession.

She takes over at a time of rising inflation and energy prices, with thousands of people across the country left struggling to put food on the table and head their homes ahead of the winter.

For people out shopping or having a day out in Wolverhampton city centre on Monday, the topics of the cost of living crisis and whether Ms Truss was the right person for the job were among those discussed.

Jill Williams had travelled over to Wolverhampton for a day out with her son Josh from West Felton in Shropshire and said she wasn't certain that Ms Truss had election winning potential as Prime Minister.

The 61-year-old said: "I was surprised to find out she'd won, although I do admire the fact that she actually said some nice things about Boris Johnson, which must have taken some guts for her to do.

"I'm usually a floating voter, although I voted Conservative in 2019 as I wanted Brexit, but I don't look at her as having that election winning potential that Boris Johnson had.

"I do hope she keeps her promise about bringing the cost of living down as that is the biggest priority at the moment, with energy, cost of living and taxes, but if I was a true Blue, rather than a floating voter, I don't think I'd vote for her."

Her 30-year-old son Josh said he wouldn't have voted for Liz Truss if he'd had the choice and said he felt the Conservative party was full of in-fighting.

He said: "I'd have voted for Rishi Sunak as I think he's quite good with money, but all I can hope for is that she does well in the job and makes a good leader.

"The main things to fix at the moment are the energy crisis and the Irish Protocol for me and she needs to give everyone a chance and, if she does well, I will support her.

"However, I don't think she's a suitable replacement for Boris Johnson as she doesn't have that electability about her and the Tories are all fighting each other at the moment, so she's got a job on her hands."

Jayne Wilkes was in Wolverhampton doing some shopping and the 59-year-old from Codsall said she didn't like Liz Truss at all, saying that she didn't think she would do the things she had promised.

She said: "I don't like the news about Liz Truss at all and I don't think it's that good at all as I don't think she's that good in the things she plans to do.

"I wasn't that keen on any of them and I think it was the best of two bad choices, but now she's in, she needs to sort the country out and do something about prices and heating and things like that.

"I think she's a better choice than Boris was as he stopped people going out, then had all those parties, so she's a step up if nothing else."

James Wilkes from Codsall said he felt Liz Truss was making false hope, with the 29-year-old saying she was constantly changing her mind.

He said: "What I've heard of her is that she is trying to make a difference, but in the next sense, she's making false hope as she keeps chopping and changing.

"She thinks she has the potential to get it right and I think all politicians have got the potential, but it's whether they actually carry out their promises, so time will tell."