Lymington Times – 9 September 2022

The new Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss faces "a very demanding agenda", a New Forest MP has warned. Ms Truss was announced on Monday as the successor to Boris Johnson after she defeated Rishi Sunak in the leadership election by 81,326 votes to 60,399.

New Forest East MP Julian Lewis had backed Ms Truss to be prime minister, having called for Mr Johnson to resign in June, accusing him of “habitual” rule-breaking and

“an aversion to scrutiny bordering on contempt for the Commons”.

He told the A&T this week:

"The new PM must rescue families and businesses from soaring costs, without generating runaway inflation.

"At the same time, the cause of the crisis – Russian aggression – requires a ramping up of defence to enhance NATO's deterrence and continue to enable Ukraine to resist.

"It all amounts to a very demanding agenda indeed."

In a House of Commons speech about the war in Ukraine later, he urged Ms Truss to speed up a commitment to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 1930. He added:

“What steps are we taking to ensure that the Russian people get the same message about the failure of Putin’s campaign that the rest of the world can clearly see?

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