Liz Truss resignation: hospitality calls for 'stable leadership' and a general election

Hospitality industry leaders have backed calls for a general election and called for "stable leadership" following Liz Truss's resignation as prime minister yesterday.

Truss stepped down on Thursday following a rebellion by Tory MPs after just 44 days in office, making her Britain's shortest-serving prime minister.

Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, tweeted: "PM Liz ‘I'm a fighter, not a quitter' Truss, has just quit. The same day a report confirms the hospitality sector is declining at its fastest pace since lockdown. Enough of this negligence. We need a general election."

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls wrote: "We need urgent return to stable leadership and governance to underpin confidence for businesses, workers and consumers. We need a unified approach from all sides to deliver that."

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) tweeted: "How many bites of the cherry can you have before you give the public the decision on who leads this country? #GeneralElectionNow".

Truss was outlasted in office by a 60p lettuce bought by the Daily Star newspaper to see which would have a longer shelf-life. The paper began live streaming the vegetable on 14 October as her tenure became uncertain.

After her resignation it was surrounded by bottles of alcohol and disco lights and the paper today put out a ‘souvenir edition' with the headline ‘Lettuce Rejoice'.

Hawksmoor yesterday tweeted a pictured of a lettuce with the caption: "This feels like a good moment to promote one of our most popular sides."

The restaurant group added a photoshopped picture of founders Will Beckett and Huw Gott outside Downing Street promising a manifesto of "a triple lock on chips, world-beating gravy, a bigger pie [and] lettuce that only lasts a single meal period".

Photo: Fred Duval/Shutterstock