Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Latest:

Leicester Student Magazine

Est. 1957, Re-est. 2020

News Opinion Politics 

‘This country is a shambles’: Students React to Liz Truss’ Resignation

Ella Johnson , , , , , ,

This article contains language that some readers may find offensive.

The United Kingdom is set to see its third Prime Minister of 2022, after Liz Truss handed in her resignation yesterday.

In a speech in front of Number 10, Truss said: “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.”

She will remain Prime Minister until a replacement is selected next week, with yet another Tory leadership election on the horizon. Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and second-placed hopeful in the last vote, is currently the bookies’ favourite to next take residency at Downing Street.

Reactions have been animated within the student community, with many reiterating their frustrations with the dire political climate and desire for an immediate general election.

Some have responded with humour, dumbfounded by the unprecedentedly short premiership of just forty-five days. “‘It’s funny but in a depressing way,” writes one student. Others have expressed jubilation at this latest resignation, sharing that they are “happy for her to go” – with comparisons repeatedly drawn between Truss and “a wet lettuce.”

Yet, the sentiment reiterated by most is concern. Concern for how the country is being led. Concern with further economic decline. And major concerns with the legitimacy of democracy when there are “so many changes in an unstable government.”

Have a read through how University of Leicester students have responded to the news below:

I didn’t have high hopes for a prime minister who was most well-known for her apparent obsession with the British cheese industry, but Truss was somehow even worse than I imagined.

She’s managed to create yet more economic uncertainty during an already unprecedented crisis, cause the self-destruction of her own party, and divide the nation even further politically – all while having all the charisma of a damp towel.
– Harry, a final-year English student
Tweet
This government have made an absolute mockery of politics and democracy.

They have failed to ever consider how the constant instability in government affects people – it’s caused disruption to the economic market and has raised prices and increased the cost of living to new heights. We are slowly re-emerging out of the stress and economic strain of the pandemic era but, at this rate, we will be worse off!
– Shennon – a third-year Law and Criminology student
Tweet
There has been such a huge shift in circumstances since the last general election, and I think the public deserve the opportunity to elect the next leader.
– Anya, an American Studies student.
Tweet
As a (very) mature student, I have the unenviable distinction of having been a teenager in 1997 during the final days of the last Conservative Government.

I can hear that familiar tune – a country in economic decline, ministerial scandal and resignation after ministerial scandal and resignation. A Prime Minister (whoever that may now be) so far removed from a mandate as to be ridiculous. That tune will now play out to an inevitable conclusion, a landslide election defeat, and a change of government.

The only variables are now the length of time this will take, and the amount of misery the Conservatives are able to inflict upon the country in the meantime.
– Dave, a first-year English student.
Tweet
I think the fact that I’ve had ginger in my cupboard longer than Liz Truss [has been Prime Minister] says how incompetent she’s been.
– Lou, a final-year student
Tweet
Of course I’m glad she’s gone. But the most concerning thing is how she even got elected in the first place – whether this points to a bigger worry about the whole political climate at the moment, and whether the next person will be any better.

On the bright side, I’m looking forward to loads of lettuce-themed greeting cards this year.
– A Biological Sciences student
Tweet
We need an election! The Tories can’t keep deciding between themselves, it’s not democratic.
– A final-year American Studies student
Tweet
To sum up Liz Truss in short (much like her time as Prime Minister):

She came, she made an absolute mess and she left without clearing it up. She has further cemented the UK as a complete joke which, to be fair to her, is something that Boris Johnson already heavily contributed towards.

Now we need a general election, so we can actually get the Tories out and clear up the absolute mess they’ve made of the country.
– Jordan, a second-year Criminology student
Tweet
Liz Truss leaving her position is predictable. Tories care more about themselves than the people they were elected in to help.

In just 45 days, she’s crashed the economy, had the monarch die on her third day, and has been outlived by a wet vegetable in a wig. On top of that, she’s copped a £115k-a-year allowance that she’ll get till the day she fucking dies.

This country is in shambles and it’s time for a general election. I don’t agree with Morrissey, but when he said: “this country is making me sick”… I felt that.
– Iona, a postgraduate Media, Culture & Society student
Tweet
Good riddance, Lizzo. In the words of Malcolm Tucker: “this is the ending of a chapter of a very thin book that nobody enjoyed reading.”

If you want to kick the Tories out after Truss’s lettuce-losing premiership, you’re welcome to join the Labour Society. We do socials, campaigning, have guest speakers and talk policy. Maybe if Truss had come to those she’d know a bit about economics and still have a job.
See our Twitter: @leiclabour_soc and Instagram: @uol_labour for details.
– University of Leicester’s Labour Society
Tweet

This is a selection of student opinions provided to Leicester Student Magazine on 20 October 2022, following Liz Truss’ resignation – you can find further responses via our Instagram page.

Ella is a BA English graduate and postgraduate student, studying MA Digital Media & Society. She enjoys keeping up with pop culture and is particularly interested in the complex relationship between media consumption and mental health. Find her on Instagram here and Twitter here.

Feature image originally sourced from Sky News, edited by Ella Johnson.

Ella Johnson
Editor-in-Chief at Leicester Student Magazine | Website | + posts

22 | Leicester/Coventry

Ella Johnson

22 | Leicester/Coventry

You May Also Like

Harry Potter and the Transphobic author

Leicester Student Magazine

Leicester UCU Calls Upon Vice-Chancellor to be a ‘Real Citizen of Change’

Ella Johnson

Student petition with over 500 signatures opposes staff redundancies at University of Leicester.

Leicester Student Magazine
%d bloggers like this: