Inflation is running at
a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent and is predicted to hit 13.3 per cent next month. Measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis await: amid soaring prices and strikes, decisions have been on hold during the leadership campaign. A recession is just over the hill. With the economic pressures, more strikes and discontent seem likely.
The Covid-19 pandemic has left Britain's National Health Service with staff shortages and struggling to catch up on care, with more than 6.5 million people on waiting lists.
Truss, 47, also has to restore confidence in a government tainted by scandal under her predecessor Boris Johnson. She will want to maintain Johnson's keen support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and has already been invited to Kyiv.
However, first up is a billowing energy crisis fuelled by the war, which has countries in Europe on edge and intervening in a manner reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic.
Truss is expected to cap household energy bills at a cost of tens of billions to the government as gas and electricity costs are expected soar by 80 per cent next month.
European governments are pushing through packages in the billions to prevent energy utilities from failing and to protect households. European gas prices have risen by 340 per cent in a year. They jumped by up to 35 per cent on Tuesday in response to Gazprom's move to extend a shutdown of a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Germany has said it will spend at least 65 billion euros on an energy support package but Truss' plans are said to be even bigger at more than US$110 billion.
As a confirmed tax-cutter, Truss will have to juggle her ideas for stimulating economic growth, with the need for an immediate and expensive energy package for winter paid for by taxpayers, and other goals such as boosting defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP.
Truss does have an opportunity to put a fresh lick of paint on a government that has been in power for 12 years, fought four general elections, and now has its fourth leader in that time.
The Tories have appeared tired and in need of rejuvenation for a while. Support for the Conservatives has been below the opposition Labour Party for months.
Truss has been chosen after a vote involving only 172,000 party members. Johnson, himself, could still make a comeback if the party gets restive.
She has started in a distinctive fashion, appointing a diverse top Cabinet line-up. For the first time, none of the main jobs - Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary - is held by a white man.
Truss has more than a year up her sleeve to make progress politically but her party, focused on small-state policies, may be increasingly out of step with the wider country.
