Welsh politicians have called for an immediate general election after Liz Truss announced her resignation as prime minister.
Ms Truss resigned after just 45 days in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in UK history.
The announcement, made by Truss outside Downing Street, follows the near-complete evaporation of her political authority which has seen her crash the markets, lose two key ministers and shed the confidence of almost all her own MPs.
First Minister for Wales, Mark Drakeford, said: “This has been a complete and utter failure of government with everyone in this country now having to pay the price.
“The deep division within the UK Government means that any successor will face the same challenges.
“A General Election is now the only way forward for the country.”
Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price MS and Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “This chaotic circus is proof once and for all that Westminster will never work for Wales. Only Plaid Cymru can offer the communities of Wales a better future.
“Another Prime Minister gone, but there is still no recognition that it’s not the individuals in Downing Street that’s the problem, but the fundamental contradictions within the Tory party as a whole.
“Brexit lies created a vacuum of accountability in Westminster – and allowed talentless zealots to seize the reins of power without an inkling how to use them. People in Wales are looking aghast at the chaos after being lectured for years that we need Westminster to survive.
“We urgently need a General Election so that the people of Wales can reject this Westminster chaos at the ballot box. There is a duty now on Welsh Conservative MPs to recognise that their government’s time is up. Unless they do so, this disgraceful chaos will drag on indefinitely.”
Responding to Liz Truss resigning as Prime Minister, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds stated: “Liz Truss was right to resign, but lets be clear, the problem isn’t just her or any individual Minister – the entire Conservative Party is dysfunctional from top to bottom and is unfit to lead the country.
“Since 2015, the Conservatives have lurched from extreme to extreme, causing economic vandalism on a massive scale. We owe it to the households, individuals and businesses up and down Wales and the rest of the UK who have been hit hard by this crisis, to take firm action now.
“We do not need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis, we need a general election, we need the Conservatives out of power and we need real change.
“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are prepared to fight a general election and play our role in removing the Conservative Party from power.”
