New Prime Minister has chance to fix the issues Tories ignored

LIZ TRUSS’S first act after kissing hands with the Queen tomorrow will be to hurl a wall of cash, hundreds of billions of pounds, at the cost-of-living tsunami roaring towards the UK.

This is the new Battle for Britain, a high-stakes dogfight to defend struggling families, elderly pensioners and thousands of small firms who will otherwise go bust. Plus tax cuts to boost business.

“Within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with energy bills and long-term supply to put this country on the right ­footing for winter,” Liz told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Will it be the right answer?

And after eight grinding weeks of argument between Liz and ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak, how will we know?

The answer will become clear to the lucky few who can still afford a late summer dash to Disneyland or the Costa Brava.

How many euros will you get for your quid?

Exchange rates are an ­economic barometer.

A falling trend signals stormy weather. An upward tick is a ray of hope.

Money men have no interest in party politics or personalities.

All they care about is where to stash the trillions entrusted to them by global investors.

If they like what Liz has to say, more will come our way.

The Pound has already nose-dived 14 per cent against the US dollar this year, with gloomsters predicting it could hit parity — a dollar per pound — for the first time since the 1990s.

There are even fears it could level with the Euro, itself ­wallowing under pressure from Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Weak currencies reflect weak economies.

Ours was hit by the Bank of England’s failure to spot last year’s flashing red warnings.

Liz Truss might want to replace governor Andrew ­Bailey with a competent ­economist.

The new PM has a lot on her plate: The biggest economic and social crisis facing any new leader in peacetime — including Margaret Thatcher in the late 1970s.

TERRIFYING VOTERS

Inflation has slashed 20 years of pay growth to zero — the ­biggest slump in living ­standards for a century.

Police are warning about civil disobedience, violence, robbery and possible riots, on top of the spate of knife attacks, murders and street brawls already terrifying voters.

Meanwhile, public sector unions seem determined to bring down her government before it even gets going.

But every crisis brings opportunity.

Voters are crying out for the sort of leadership Liz Truss promises to deliver.

This is the chance for a new government, a new Cabinet and a fresh approach to ­challenges ignored by the Tories over the past 12 years.

Yes, they want urgent ­financial help for the neediest and they want it now.

But they also want safe streets, better policing, tougher justice.

TOUGHER JUSTICE

They want Brexit ­delivered and an end to 30 years of uncontrolled mass ­illegal immigration.

And they want their elected representatives to stop cowering before a woke generation of spoiled babies who have never known real adversity.

Liz Truss vows to deliver on ALL these issues.

For many, including me, the new PM is an unknown ­quantity.

Critics claim she is an opportunist, a staunch Lib Dem Remainer one minute and an equally staunch Tory Brexiteer the next.

So I will judge her by the company she keeps.

One of her most reassuring allies is not a politician but a veteran economist with a record of getting it right.

Professor Patrick Minford was at Margaret Thatcher’s side when her policies were famously denounced in a letter to The Times by 365 so-called experts.

PIVOTAL FIGURE

They were forced to eat their words as Britain transformed from “Sick Man of Europe” to one of the world’s strongest economies.

The return of ex-Trade ­Secretary Sir John Redwood, another pivotal figure in those days, is good news.

And her likely Cabinet ­promotions — including problem-solver Jacob Rees-Mogg, Suella Braverman as Home Secretary and Kemi Badenoch, wherever she goes — will reassure wobbly Tories.

As wartime leader Winston Churchill might have said, this is not the end of the cost-of-living crisis.

It is not even the beginning of the end.

But it could be the end of the beginning.