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Liz Truss: 'Together we can ride out the storm'

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Liz Truss takes over as UK's prime minister

Liz Truss has delivered her first speech outside number 10 Downing Street as the UK's new prime minister.

Politicians, journalists and photographers gathered to witness the UK's leader give her first address after her return from Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, where she was officially appointed as the prime minister by the Queen.

During her speech, she talked about the "challenges" facing Britain, but said that "together we can ride out the storm".

Ms Truss said she has three main priorities as prime minister: Getting "Britain working again" with a plan including cutting tax, which is money that adults pay to the government.

Then she talked about the "energy crisis", which is about prices of electricity and gas going up fast. Ms Truss said she would "take action this week to deal with energy bills".

Image source, PA Media
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Liz Truss set out three main priorities for the UK during her speech

Finally the new prime minister talked about the NHS. She promised to help "people get the doctor's appointments they need".

After making her speech, Liz Truss went into 10 Downing Street to begin the job as prime minister.

Who's in the cabinet?

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The cabinet is a group of important government ministers, chosen by the prime minister

One of Ms Truss's first jobs is deciding and announcing the people who've got some of the top jobs in the government as part of something called the cabinet.

The cabinet is a special group of the most senior members of the government.

For the first time, three of the top four jobs in government will be done by people who are non-white and for the first time ever - none of the four jobs will be held by a white man.

These are the names of the new top ministers in the UK government, which you might hear being talked about.

Therese Coffey will be the health secretary, overseeing hospitals and healthcare. Ms Truss has also decided to make Ms Coffey Deputy Prime Minister.

Suella Braverman will be the home secretary, meaning she's in charge of internal issues inside the UK's border, such as immigration and UK citizenship.

James Cleverly has been given the job of foreign secretary, so he will representing the UK government's relations abroad. This is the role that Ms Truss held before becoming Prime Minister.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been named as chancellor, making him the top government minister for financial issues like tax and how much money the government spends. He will play an important role in how the government chooses to deal with the cost of living crisis. Mr Kwarteng is also the first black chancellor.

Ben Wallace will remain as defence secretary, a position he has held since 2019. This job takes responsibility for issues to do with the military and protecting the security of the UK.

Kemi Badenoch has been given the job of international trade secretary, looking after how the UK does business with other countries.

Kit Malthouse has been named as education secretary, so he will be in charge of schools around the UK.

Michelle Donelan is the new culture secretary. This means she will be the minister responsible for the arts, and protecting and supporting the cultural heritage of the UK.

The new cabinet are having their first meeting together with Ms Truss this morning.

How did Liz Truss become prime minister?

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Former Conservative leader and prime minister Boris Johnson gave his farewell speech on Tuesday morning

Boris Johnson become the leader of the Conservative Party and the UK's prime minister in July 2019.

However, after being the PM for three years, he decided to step down from the role in July after a number of his ministers and aides resigned in protest of his leadership and Mr Johnson came under increasing pressure to quit.

When a political party has a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, like the Conservative Party currently has, its new leader becomes prime minister. A general election, where all adults in the UK can vote for MPs, does not have to take place for another couple of years.

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Liz Truss was officially appointed as the new PM by Queen Elizabeth in Scotland on Tuesday

A number of potential candidates put themselves forward to become the next Conservative Party leader and prime minister.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss were the final two candidates and members of the Conservative Party across the UK voted Liz Truss in as the new party leader and PM.

Liz Truss travelled to Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday, where the Queen officially invited her to form a government.

Who will make up Liz Truss new team?

As the prime minister, one of Liz Truss most important jobs is to choose which members of Parliament, or MPs, will form part of her cabinet.

The cabinet is a special group of the most senior members of the government and each member oversees a particular area.

What have other parties said?

MPs from some of the other political parties were critical of Liz Truss' first speech at Downing Street.

Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire questioned whether the new PM's speech, which was almost delayed by the rain, was worth the wait.

"In the end, she got lucky with the rain but really did the country get lucky with what she said?" she said.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Liberal Democrats said once again that he wants a general election called following Liz Truss's first speech as prime minister.

Image source, Reuters
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Liz Truss outside number 10 with her husband

In a statement, Sir Ed Davey said it was time for the new PM to "do the right thing" by cancelling the winter energy price rise and then "call a general election".

He said he was "shocked" that Truss and the Tory party had "utterly failed to come up with any ideas to help our country through the cost of living crisis.

MP Kirsty Oswald, who is the deputy Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party described the speech as "underwhelming".

"I didn't hear anything that gave me any comfort hat Liz Truss fully appreciates the real significant difficulty that people are in, that households are in, and that businesses are in," she said.

"I think that we need much much more, and we need it very soon."