UK prime minister Liz Truss resigns

UK prime minister Liz Truss has resigned just six weeks into her premiership, marking the shortest period in office for a British leader.

"Given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party," she said today. "I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party… there will be a leadership election to be completed within the next week. This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plans and maintain our country's economic stability and national security. I will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen."

Truss' position had become increasingly untenable since she was forced last week to scrap the majority of her tax-cutting measures following a period of sustained volatility in the UK gilts and currency markets. The plans led to a run on the pound and forced the Bank of England to launch an emergency bond-buying programme. A number of her own members of parliament have called publicly for her to resign in recent days.

By James Keates