Sir Keir Starmer has called for an immediate general election after Liz Truss announced her resignation as prime minister.
The Labour leader said the Conservative Party has “shown it no longer has a mandate to govern”, adding that British people “deserve so much better than this revolving door of chaos”.
“The Tories cannot respond to their latest shambles by yet again simply clicking their fingers and shuffling the people at the top without the consent of the British people,” Sir Keir said in a statement.
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“They do not have a mandate to put the country through yet another experiment; Britain is not their personal fiefdom to run how they wish.”
“The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future.
“They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future.
“We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey echoed the call for the public to go to the polls.
“We don’t need another Conservative prime minister lurching from crisis to crisis,” he said on social media.
“We need a general election now and the Conservatives out of power.”
As did Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price and Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts, who added: “We urgently need a general election so that the people of Wales can reject this Westminster chaos at the ballot box.”
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Conservatives in the Senedd, said Ms Truss had done the “right thing” in standing down.
“People wherever they live in the UK are rightly concerned about the cost-of-living crisis,” he said.
“The new prime minister must grip this situation quickly, and provide leadership, confidence and hope to people across our nation.”
Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, agreed that Ms Truss had made “the right decision”.
“We must now move forward quickly and the new Leader and Prime Minister will have to restore stability for the good of the country,” he said in a post on social media.
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt
While Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt told MPs she would “keep calm and carry on” and encouraged others to do the same.
Asked in the chamber about Liz Truss’s resignation and the state of the government, Ms Mordaunt said: “I am going to keep calm and carry on – and I would suggest everyone else do the same.”
