Liz Truss becomes UK's new prime minister

Liz Truss has become the United Kingdom’s new prime minister after securing the leadership of the country’s Conservative Party.

Truss, 47, served as the U.K.’s foreign secretary under her predecessor, Boris Johnson, who in July 2022 said he would resign after a series of scandals. Johnson followed through on that vow on 6 September, hours before Truss was formally named to the position by Queen Elizabeth II.

Truss won the position over former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak in a vote on Monday, 5 September, of members of the Conservative Party, which holds a majority in the U.K. Parliament. She is the U.K.'s fourth prime minister since 2016 and the country's third-ever female premier.

Truss is in the process of filling out her Cabinet and, in her first weeks in office, will face several serious issues, including a rapidly rising cost of living in the U.K., an energy crisis ignited by Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a fight with the European Union over renegotiation of trade issues following Brexit, according to The Independent.

In August 2022, Salmon Scotland asked Truss and Sunak to take action on labor shortages and trade issues impacting the country's salmon-farming sector, if either should become prime minister.

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