Liz Truss announces her resignation as Prime Minister

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Sterling touched $1.13 at one moment following Ms Truss’s statement outside Number 10.

After just six weeks in the job, the outgoing Prime Minister told the nation: “I recognise… given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.

“I have therefore spoken to His Majesty the King, to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.”

After making its initial gains, sterling began to slip back again.

The current administration’s promise of unfunded tax cuts in its mini-budget was closely followed by market turmoil.

Many commentators have described Ms Truss’s as the most tumultuous first (and, as it turned out, last) weeks in office in at least recent British political history.

In a damning assessment, financial paper Bloomberg said: “Truss has made the most turbulent debut of any British prime minister in peacetime.

“In just three weeks, her administration has been battered by a crisis of confidence in her policies that have triggered a collapse in the pound and a surge in borrowing costs that threaten to push the UK toward a deep recession and a housing market crash.”

READ MORE: ‘Economic uncertainty’ as BoE places question mark over inflation rise

Yields on gils – or UK Government bonds – also eased in response to the Prime Minister’s resignation.

Markets.com’s Neil Wilson said the pound’s “kneejerk verdict was damning”.

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Mr Wilson, quoted in Reuters, said: “But the initial reaction seemed very appropriate as the market has acted as judge, jury and executioner for the Truss regime.”

A week-long Tory leadership election will now follow Ms Truss’s speech.

Reports suggest it is unlikely the selection of the next Prime Minister will not be a matter on which the Tory membership can vote.

1922 Committee Chairman Sir Graham Brady has confirmed that the next fiscal event will still go ahead on October 31, which the Bank of England is expected shortly after to respond to.

Ms Truss also said in her statement that her exit date “will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security”.

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