AS Rishi Sunak became the third Prime Minister of the UK this year, local politicians gave their reactions.

While most agreed that Liz Truss was right to resign as Prime Minister last Thursday, some have welcomed Mr Sunak’s succession on Monday while others have said it is time for a General Election.

Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris was among the first to welcome the news that Mr Sunak will be our next Prime Minister.

Mrs Morris said: ‘A result in short order as to who will take up the reins as our new prime minister is a good result.

‘Rishi Sunak has my full confidence as our new prime minister.

‘I am absolutely sure he will deliver the solutions needed to sooth our troubled economy.

‘He will deliver on our 2019 manifesto pledges and more.’

Of Liz Truss’s resignation from the post Mrs Morris said: ‘What local businesses and constituents have been telling me is that above all they want stability and certainly.

‘Liz Truss was unable to deliver her agenda for change – neither the markets nor parliament would allow it.

‘She put the country first – it was right for her to resign.’

Few people are in a better position to address the economic crisis than Rishi Sunak, said Central Devon’s MP.

‘I am very pleased that Rishi will be our Prime Minister,’ said MP Mel Stride.

He added: ‘This is a real opportunity for us to unite as a party and deliver for the country.

‘The first thing we must do is to address the economic crisis and there are few people in a better position to do that then Rishi Sunak.

‘He has my 100% support.’

‘I thank Liz (Truss) for her service as Prime Minister.

‘She had a bold vision for our country but not one that she was able to deliver.

‘We have now drawn a line under the events of recent weeks and I look forward to a new leader to take the country forward.’

Devon’s newest MP, Richard Foord (Liberal Democrats, Tiverton & Honiton) says: ‘This Conservative instability has gone on long enough.

‘Our country is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, with people and businesses crying out for steady hands on the wheel.’

He believes the country doesn’t need ‘another Conservative stitch up with an un-elected prime minister’ and wants a general election ‘so we can get this car-crash of a government out of power and deliver the real change our communities need.’

Jeffrey Pocock, Newton Abbot Constituency Labour Party Vice Chair, said: ‘After only six weeks, yet another Tory PM is gone. In those six weeks, Liz Truss’s mini-budget experiment, with its proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and its libertarian trickle-down dogma, spooked the financial markets, tanked the pound, and almost crashed the UK economy as well as putting hard-earned pension pots at risk and causing worldwide consternation.

‘Due to the outdated economic extremism of Truss and her supporters, including our own Newton Abbot MP, Anne Marie Morris, people have been left with no idea how they are going to pay their mortgages at a time when they’re already bearing the brunt of rampant inflation, unaffordable energy bills, and cost of living pressures the likes of which have not been seen for generations if ever.

‘We must not forget, however, that this abject failure of Tory politics is 12 years in the making. In 2010, the Tories, with the support of the LibDems, drastically cut public services and so creating poverty and hardship for millions. The Tories are now seeking further austerity even when ordinary people have no more else to give.

‘By again deciding who the next PM should be, the Tories also show their contempt for our democracy and for the will of the British people. They again show that what counts above all is the Tory party and its survival, not the national interest at a time of crisis.

‘The Tories have shown they are not fit to govern. They have no mandate. They are embarrassing us on the world stage, doing great damage to our economy and our global reputation. We deserve much better than this revolving door of chaos and failed former leadership contenders again vying for the job of PM.

‘This dreadful, chaotic, unedifying soap opera of a government needs to be brought to an end. We need a general election now. We need stable government not more U-turns or shuffling of deckchairs. We need Keir Starmer, and we need Labour.’