Liz Truss has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party.
She won with 57 per cent of the vote by party members.
Ms Truss will go before the Queen tomorrow to ask to form a new Government before she can be called Prime Minister.
She paid tribute to her rival Rishi Sunak and outgoing PM Boris Johnson, calling him her friend and saying: “You are admired from Kyiv to Carlisle”.
She has pledged to help people with energy bills and said the Conservative Party will “deliver, deliver, deliver”.
Simon Fell, MP for Barrow and Furness, posted on social media: “Many congratulations to Liz Truss, elected as the leader of the Conservative Party, and soon to be our next PM.
“The new PM has a huge task on her hands: immediately tackling inflation and the cost of living; getting on with levelling up, and delivering the manifesto we were elected on.
“I don’t envy her in that job, but I look forward to working with her to deliver on those issues.”
Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and the Border, said: “Our new Conservative Government has my full support and I look forward to ministers hitting the ground running with a renewed vigour to deliver on the British people’s priorities.
“Commiserations must also go to Rishi Sunak and all the other excellent candidates who bravely put themselves forward for the highest office in the land. The election displayed the broad range of talent we have across the Conservative Parliamentary Party, and I look forward to welcoming the Prime Minister’s new Government appointments in due course.
“Nobody can deny the acute challenges we face as a nation at this time. Foremost among these is the cost of living and energy crisis, which will come into even sharper focus as we approach the winter months.
“While I’m pleased that steps have been made so far by the Government, I’ve consistently urged the Government to introduce further widespread emergency measures in a similar way to the vital support that supported people and saved so many businesses in the pandemic. I will continue banging the drum for the people of Penrith and The Border on this issue as new Ministers take their posts.
“With Liz Truss ably serving as Foreign Secretary during the awful war in Ukraine, I know that she will continue to support our beleaguered friends who are fighting so hard to defend the democratic values we hold dear.
“I will be urging the new PM to support our rural communities, not least the farmers and food producers who are so pivotal to our economy and our nation’s food security. Lastly, I am urging that the new Government continues to prioritise the levelling up agenda aimed at tackling regional inequalities, and that this very much should be in our rural areas as well as towns and cities.
“I’ve already been impressed by her approach to this matter. I know that she is acutely aware of the disparities we have in the UK and has pledged to make sure levelling up works for rural communities when it comes to crucial issues such as transport, broadband and mobile phone connectivity.”
John Stevenson, Carlisle MP, said: “There are some very real challenges facing our country currently including high inflation rates and cost of living and energy price challenges and we all need to get behind our new Prime Minister to get on deal with these issues as well as continuing to deliver on the election promises made in 2019 including the levelling up agenda.
“Commiserations go to Rishi Sunak and all the other candidates who put themselves up for the leadership election in the initial stages, demonstrating what a broad range of talent we have within the Conservative party.
“Liz Truss has my full support and I look forward to continuing to work in the best interests of my Carlisle constituency.”
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, has called on Ms Truss to act now to freeze energy bills.
It comes as the Liberal Democrats have tabled legislation in Parliament this week, signed by Mr Farron, to cancel next month’s energy bill rise – saving the average household around £1,500 this year.
The draft bill would also offer grants to small businesses of up to £50,000 to cover 80 per cent of their energy bills.
He said: “The Conservatives have spent months failing to act on soaring energy bills, leaving local residents in despair and small businesses going to the wall.
“They have shown they are completely out of touch with people in Cumbria struggling to get by.
“Liz Truss must listen to Liberal Democrat calls to freeze energy bills to save families and pensioners from an economic catastrophe this winter.
“We have tabled a bill to freeze energy bills, which could be brought in on day one to offer the help that local families and businesses need.”
