By DANICA KIRKA and JILL LAWLESSLONDON — Liz Truss became U.K. prime minister on Tuesday and immediately confronted the enormous task ahead of her amid increasing pressure to curb soaring prices, ease labor unrest and fix a health care system burdened by long waiting lists and staff shortages.
“You must know about the cost of living crisis in England, which is really quite bad at the moment,” Rebecca Macdougal, 55, who works in law enforcement, said outside the Houses of Parliament. It was the first time in the queen’s 70-year reign that the handover of power took place at Balmoral, rather than at Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule because the 96-year-old queen has experienced problems getting around that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a day-to-day basis.
But as a prime minister selected by less than 0.5% of British adults, Truss is under pressure to show quick results.