Liz Truss will face tough economic challenges, says former Indian envoy on new British PM

New Delhi: Former High Commissioner of India to the UK, Ruchi Ghanashyam on Monday said that the new British Prime Minister will face a hard time dealing with the economic condition of the country, including the galloping inflation.

"It is a good victory that she has won. Let us congratulate her. She faces very difficult challenges. The UK is on the verge of, if not already in a recession. It has galloping inflation. There is a very high cost of energy. People are finding it difficult to cope," Ghanashyam told ANI.

"There is war in Ukraine and there is a relationship with the EU (to manage). All in all, she has a very difficult challenge in front of her. Let her wish her the best," she added.

Answering a question on the impact of Truss`s win on India-UK ties, the former High Commissioner said, "I think relations between countries are not really to a great extent dependent on individuals as much as it is determined by the state of the two countries or geostrategic position that they have."

"Of course, individuals do make a difference if the person is inherently anti-India in their approach, it would make it harder," she added.

After winning the Conservative leadership race, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday said she will take bold actions to get all of the UK through the tough times to unleash the United Kingdom`s potential.

Liz Truss was announced as the new head of the Conservative Party today. Forty-seven-year-old Liz Truss will become the third female prime minister of the UK.

She defeated former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak through a postal ballot of all Conservative members. Truss secured 81,326 votes while Sunak got 60,399 votes."I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party. Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country. I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom`s potential," Truss wrote on Twitter.

The Tory leadership race was triggered after Boris Johnson was forced to step down on July 7 following a series of resignations of cabinet members, who protested against his scandal-plagued leadership.Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss rose to the Conservative ranks to end up as finalists for the contest for the post of UK Prime Minister.

During nearly a dozen hustings and after a six-week long head-to-head competition, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak had explained their long-term visions for Britain. Both contenders went through bouts of 12 nationwide events with the first bout in Leeds, Northern England.

Truss indicated that she will strongly push back against "identity politics of the left" as she has envisioned the legislation for single-sex spaces such as domestic violence shelters. Sunak batted for cutting VAT to revive the country`s economic situation.

The Roadmap 2030 for India-UK future relations was launched during a virtual summit between the two countries in May last year. This Roadmap is for revitalised and dynamic connections between people, re-energised trade, investment and technological collaboration.

During her visit to India this year, Truss had expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved so far concerning Roadmap 2030 and agreed to further intensify efforts to deliver results in priority areas of trade and investments, defence, and migration. Both sides appreciated the substantial progress made in the India-UK FTA negotiations with two productive rounds completed since its launch in January 2022.