These are the challenges Johnson’s successor will soon face

In exactly one week, the British will know who their new Prime Minister will be. Then the result of the Conservative Party leadership election is announced and the winner succeeds Boris Johnson.

The battle is between Liz Truss, the foreign minister, and Rishi Sunak, the finance minister. According to the polls, Truss has the best chance. Behind the scenes, it is even said that his team is working on his victory speech.

But whoever it is, Johnson’s successor is sure to face plenty of tough challenges. We have listed the three most important for you.

Since the start of the election campaign, the economic forecast for the country has gone from bad to worse. As in the rest of Europe, the British suffer from high inflation. And exorbitant energy prices: they have increased by 80% compared to last year.

Truss and Sunak differ fundamentally in how they intend to tackle these economic problems. Truss promises immediate tax cuts. “We have the highest taxes for 70 years,” she said during an election debate in Norwich. “That’s not how we get economic growth and fight a recession.”

Sunak warns of lower taxes. He thinks it will fuel inflation. “You can’t do tax cuts and borrow a lot of money and think the economy will be fine at the same time,” he said in response to Truss’ comments.

In the current election campaign, Truss and Sunak are trying to win the hearts of Conservative party members. After all, elections are about the leadership of this party. But the Conservatives’ popularity has declined since last December. In some polls, the party scores nearly 15 percentage points lower than the main opposition party, Labour.

“The leadership struggle between Truss and Sunak is hurting their party as the Tories publicly attack each other week after week during the campaign,” said Tony Travers, a professor at the London School of Economics.

“Meanwhile, voters feel the government has been out of control for months as a major international crisis brews in Ukraine, driving up energy prices. Then there are health issues and strikes elsewhere in the country. give the impression that this government only cares about itself.”

It’s up to Johnson’s successor to turn things around.

And then there is Boris Johnson. If he is not a candidate for his own succession, he is not yet forgotten. On the contrary, polls show that half of the Conservative Party now regrets having fired the charismatic Johnson.

“According to the polls, Johnson is much more popular than Truss or Sunak,” says Travers. “And some UK media are speculating that Boris Johnson would love to make a comeback. But it will be a huge challenge for the first-year successor to step over that shadow.”

One thing is clear: anyone who soon delivers a victory speech outside 10 Downing Street will have a heavy task ahead of them.