In the end, the result was no shock, as Tory veteran Liz Truss defeated Rishi Sunak to become the UK’s next Prime Minister. It may seem odd to a global audience that the leader of a country of 67 million people could be selected by just over 140,000 members of a political party which just happens to be in office at a given time, but there we are.
Tom Tugendhat was the only Catholic in the Conservative Party leadership race in an increasingly secular Britain, where Christianity is more and more propped up by the country’s ethnic minorities. As for Truss’s own position on religion, she has said: “I share the values of the Christian faith and the Church of England, but I’m not a regular practising religious person.”
We know that two years ago, as Equalities Minister, Truss said there were “no plans” to change access to transgender peoples’ healthcare although she has been fairly quiet on the subject of transgender issues overall. On abortion and right to life issues, Truss’ record is also heavily on the abstention side, although she did vote in favour of allowing the creation of three-parent embryos and against independent abortion counselling.
There will be no honeymoon period for the new Prime Minister, who will have to focus first and foremost on cost-of-living and energy crises which, depending on who you ask, have been caused by lockdowns, myopic government policies, energy traders, Net Zero and Vladimir Putin. Whatever else, Truss’s Thatcherite mantras are unlikely to cut it with the general public.
According to YouGov, the public are less than pleased with the incoming PM, while Labour’s lead over the Conservatives – who have been in power either in coalition or on their own since 2010 – has opened up to double-digits. Her victory over Sunak was hardly the slam dunk her team had expected either (57.4 per cent against 42.6 per cent).
If Labour can hold their lead, this creates the possibility of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats in 2024, which could pave the way for a referendum on changing the voting system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation. If that passed – and polling suggests it would – the Tories would likely be locked out of majority power indefinitely.
For his part, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales – Cardinal Vincent Nichols – issued a statement, offering “congratulations to Liz Truss”. He added: “Today our focus should be on the elderly, families who have the care of children, and all those least able to absorb the huge increases in the cost of living that we face. This means giving immediate attention to issues such as the level of welfare benefits and the impact of the two-child cap on universal credit payments, among other possible actions.”
The cardinal said “the principle of subsidiarity can be applied to our centralised system of welfare and public services to make delivery more effective and more efficient. This principle, long part of the social teaching of the Catholic Church, seeks “the active participation of private individuals and civil society” through which “it is actually possible to improve social services and welfare programmes, and at the same time save resources” (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate 60).”
Cardinal Nichols later expressed confidence “that throughout this crisis, the Catholic community will do all we can to act on this conviction and promote this principle.” He urged “all Catholics to give whatever time and financial resources they can to charitable endeavours that support those who are affected by the current crisis.”
Truss aside, her new Health Secretary has come in for criticism for her stance towards abortion. Thérèse Coffey has previously voted against extending abortion access to women in Northern Ireland. She also voted against making at-home abortion pills permanently available in England and Wales. Coffey is a practising Catholic who said she would “prefer that people didn’t have abortions but I am not going to condemn people that do”.
Overall, the British people will be looking for more than a Thatcherite tribute act in the months ahead and the rehashing of Maggie’s greatest hits. That said, with a greater on focus on economic, than moral, questions, Liz Truss is unlikely to be a game-changer so far as people of faith are concerned.
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