Liz Truss claimed during Wednesday’s PMQs that the country did not need a general election, despite opinion polls suggesting otherwise.
Truss was trying to fend off claims that voters need to go to the ballot box – a suggestion also put forward by her former ally Nadine Dorries – after a Labour MP cited the unflattering opinion polls making headlines at the moment.
In reply, the prime minister said: “Mr Speaker, I think the last thing we need is a general election.”
Labour erupted in laughter, and there were shouts of “more”, even as PMQs concluded.
Truss has reached historic lows in the polls over the last few weeks, with a lower approval rating than her predecessor Boris Johnson had during his final weeks in office.
A YouGov poll from October 2 also found 71% of respondents thought she was actually performing badly in office.
Redfield and Wilton Strategies found that 71% of the country also believe the UK government is currently taking the wrong approach to the cost of living crisis.
The same company found on October 10 if an election took place in six months, 52% of Brits thought a Labour government would be in No.10.
Other polls have found Labour – not the Tories, as usually happens during the “honeymoon” period of a new part leader – have received a substantial bounce in support since Truss settled into No.10.
The prime minister has only been in office since September 6, and much of that was taken up by a period of national mourning for the Queen.
Broadcaster Emily Maitlis also pointed out that Truss does not have much support from her own MPs either.
The PM has admitted she didn’t run some of her most controversial policies past cabinet first – prompting public cabinet divides at the Tory conference.
She won the Tory leadership contest once members outside of parliament were permitted to vote. Throughout the previous rounds, her opponent Rishi Sunak was always the frontrunner.
Sky News spoke to some less-than-happy members of the public after this PMQs on Wednesday.
Director of R3 Mortgages, Riz Malik, said the state of the mortgage market recently has felt like a “joke” or a “dream”.
“The last few weeks have been a complete and utter nightmare. And the problem that we have is that, I can’t see what is going to be done to get us out of this mess.”
He added: “If you don’t know as prime minister that the financial markets hang on every word that you say about the economic output, you shouldn’t be in the job!”
Director from a pay as you can bakery, Lil’s Parlour, called Lucy Scott said a lot of her customers were sad, “there’s just no thought as to how normal people are going to survive this.”
Rosie McGregor, president of the National Pensioners Convention, said, “there’s a massive concern among many pensioners,” especially due to inflation.
“I just don’t feel Liz Truss and her government actually get it,” McGregor added. “We need, I think, a general election because we can’t go on like this.”
So it’s no wonder The Economist went viral on Wednesday after analysing exactly how many days the country was functioning under Truss. It calculated that, prior to the chaotic mini-budget, she had just seven days of successful governing under her belt.
It claimed this was the same as “the shelf-life of a lettuce,” dubbing Truss “the Iceberg Lady”.