Liz Truss Exit Date Odds Close As PM Confirms Exit From No 10

Betting sites have swiftly closed their markets on Liz Truss’ exit date after the prime minister confirmed she will quit her job less than two months into the role.

Truss’ premiership has been besieged with controversy largely brought on by her own economic strategy that threatened to ruin the UK economy within the space of a few days.

The PM confirmed in a short statement that she will step down as UK prime minister within a week, so long as a successor was named.

There is now an almighty scramble to replace Truss, with the same list of names from earlier this summer back in the race. Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt look set to battle it out with disgraced former prime minister Boris Johnson for the role.

And UK bookmakers have been swift to act on Truss’ decision to resign.

Liz Truss Odds

Indeed, the majority of UK betting sites chose to immediately close their markets and pay out on bets that Truss would be gone in 2022. It brings to an end one of the most remarkable political betting sagas in history.

Truss was as wide as 40/1 to lose her job this year when she was appointed PM back in September. She had beaten Sunak to the top job by appealing to Tory members with a big-spending, tax-cutting economic pledge.

Truss promised to cut supposed red tape, tackle workers’ rights, insult the French and unleash the benefits of Brexit. It was a Leaver’s dream.

But her uncounted tax cuts spooked the markets almost instantly, and caused the Bank of England to pump £65bn into the economy to save pensions. The value of the pound crashed, Truss sacked her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. 

Her odds on surviving the year fell to 8/1, but within a week Truss was out herself.

Betting sites closed their markets on the day of her resignation speech with the Truss odds floating at around 1/25 on her leaving in 2022. Punters could have got 10/1 on her making it to next year.

What Now For UK Politics?

It means the country now faces yet another Tory leadership election but is £65bn worse off, while the cost of government borrowing has skyrocketed. This has affected mortgages, with some homeowners potentially paying around £500 a month more on their loans.

The UK is also running headlong into a winter energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the inability of successive governments to build a reliable, home-generated energy industry.

It looks as though the Tories are heading for electoral demolition if the next general election odds are anything to go by, unless a new PM can save them. 

The right-wing newspapers are all suddenly behind Johnson once again, seemingly forgetting that three months ago he exited the top job in disgrace after promoting an MP to deputy chief whip despite knowing about sexual abuse allegations.

Johnson is still popular among certain sectors of his party but is despised by swathes of the country.

Political betting sites make Labour 2/9 favourites to win the next election and have demanded a snap poll. But that’s highly unlikely unless the upcoming Conservative leadership contest rips the Tories even further apart.

As for Truss, she will likely scuttle away to the backbenches. It would be a surprise if she was offered a job in anyone’s cabinet following the mess she leaves in Downing Street.