Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister

Liz Truss has resigned as Britain’s prime minister after just 44 days in office.

In a statement read outside Downing Street, Liz Truss said: "I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability. Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills."

She added that she was elected "with a mandate to change this", whilst recognising that she "cannot deliver the mandate" on which she was elected.

It is expected that there will be a leadership election to be completed next week following her resignation, with Labour Leader Kier Starmer calling instead for a general election.

Her short stint in office will be remembered as a time dominated by market chaos following the mini-budget that was announced by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last month.

The chaos caused by the announcement led to the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng last week and the reversal of almost all the unfunded tax cuts that had been proposed.

Despite these significant moves, the prime minister's position had continued to remain untenable in the eyes of her party.

On Monday, new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the government would be cutting the energy price guarantee back to six months from the two years previously promised and abandoning the planned 1p reduction to the basic rate of income tax.

Chaos continued this week, after Suella Braverman lashed out at Liz Truss’s "tumultuous" premiership as she resigned as home secretary on Wednesday evening.

Suella Braverman’s resignation marked the second departure from the four great offices of state within the Prime Minister’s first six weeks in Number 10.

Ugly scenes continued on Wednesday in the Commons, over if a fracking vote was being considered as a confidence vote in the government, and whether the chief and deputy chief whip had quit.