THE Conservative Party’s latest leadership election has made the UK a worldwide laughing stock, according to Northumberland Labour.

Liz Truss’s resignation on Thursday after just 44 days in charge has triggered the second leadership election of 2022, with Tory MPs and members set to choose a new Prime Minister by next week in a fast-tracked process.

The Government is facing calls from opposition parties to call a general election, arguing that a third Prime Minister of the year would have no mandate.

A spokesman for Northumberland Labour said: “What words can anyone use to express an utter shambolic situation making us the laughing stock of the world. We cannot allow another Conservative appointee, we must let the people decide and therefore we must have a general election now.

“We’ve seen problematic leadership nationally the people should be allowed to choose without question. No appointee of Conservative members will have credibility or authority. If they don’t allow the people to choose we will be in the same position in a few months.”

Prior to Ms Truss’s resignation, the leader of Northumberland Labour Scott Dickinson had accused the PM of “fiddling while Rome burns”.

He said: “There are financial fires breaking out and people suffering all over the place, but what do the government do? They carry on fighting to keep their precious party in power while many Northumbrians are thinking about how they’re going to survive. It’s absolutely disgraceful.

“Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. Inflation has hit 10 per cent; higher costs for consumers, businesses having to charge more as their own costs rise and, as always, the poorest and most vulnerable being hardest hit.

“In 2022 in one of the richest countries of the world people are terrified of turning their heating on and missing meals, four million children are living in poverty and many many people, including working people, are relying on food banks to get by.

“This is not caused by the war in Ukraine, it’s not the pandemic and it’s not Brexit; it’s a government which, for 12 years, has systematically stripped away dignity from millions of ordinary people.

“This government could fix these things if they wanted to, but they don’t. They aren’t and never have been on the side of ordinary people.

“It’s time for a change.”

A recent poll from People Polling put Labour on 53 per cent, while the Conservatives sit at just 14 per cent – 39 per cent behind and only 3 per cent ahead of the Liberal Democrats.


On Friday, Hexham MP Guy Opperman backed Rishi Sunak to take over as Prime Minister.