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Should a General Election be called?

ended 14. October 2022

With the Chancellor gone, Jeremy Hunt in No.11 and another U-turn on corporation tax, Newspage asked small business owners for their views and whether a General Election should be called. Their views are below:

19 responses from the Newspage community

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This is officially now a Government without a mandate, without a plan and without a clue. The Conservatives know that Truss will never be able to turn people around after this and that whenever an election is called, they will be annihilated. Their only chance is to install a Sunak and Mordaunt double-act to restore some sense of calm maturity to proceedings to see the country through hard times. This may not be enough, though, as the sense of outrage among the British people will linger for a long time.
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Can you put toothpaste back in the tube? Truss is trying. What a total and utter shambles. Truss billed the pairing of her and the Chancellor as close as you could get, and now Kwarteng has had to fall on her sword. The only way out of this mess is a General Election and a change of government. Markets will go spare today.
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Though we can afford to lose Kwasi at this moment in time, we cannot afford to lose the PM. However, if a U-turn does not come prior to Halloween, she also has to go. I fear that the OBR report will be so damaging to the Conservative Party that the end of this administration is nigh. The only saviour is Rishi who will hopefully return from exile and restore some semblance of order. The endless political pantomime continues.
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Truss is a failure, full stop. She will go down in the history books for having achieved such massive failings in such a short space of time. She'll also be the shortest serving UK Prime Minister ever. Yesterday, I said the country couldn't stand a General Election, and I still stand by that, but Truss has got to go. Kwasi is her scapegoat, and the real Liz Truss now needs to stand up and walk away. The only saviour I see is Rishi Sunak.
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The Truss administration so far has been like watching a bad episode of Love Island, with constant backtracking, lies and mistakes. A general election would cause further uncertainty, as these things take time and money to organise, two things that are currently in short supply. I don't think a General Election fixes the problem, it just prolongs our agony. It may not be a popular opinion but I think Rishi has what it takes to come in and settle the ship. This government simply isn't fit to govern. There has never been so much uncertainty in the air than there is now.
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What we've got here is a bunch of numpties running around without a mandate, plan or vision and simply hammering the country and the pound every time they open their mouths. Truss has lost all trust from the UK public and a General Election must be called.
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Good riddance to the Chancellor. But if Liz Truss thinks this is enough, she's wrong. She needs to go, too, and we must not let the Chancellor's dismissal distract us from the fact that we need a full U-turn on the whole ridiculous mini-Budget that has caused mayhem in our financial system. A general election worries me but with the shambles we now have from our government, I have a feeling the people may demand it.
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The fact that in a matter of just a few weeks we have had a new PM, a U-turn mini-Budget and the sacking of a Chancellor says one thing and one thing only: a General Election is needed and it's needed now.
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A General election should be called immediately. Failing that, the whole cabinet should be replaced by my son’s P5 class, who I’m sure could make less of a mess.
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The current government have been like fish out of water since the mini-Budget. It feels like the Game of Thrones in politics lately, with everyone fighting among themselves and not caring about the people they actually govern. Unfortunately, Winter is coming and they are not prepared. The only way out of this spectacular mess is a General Election, and I don't think Truss is the one to lead the Conservatives in that election. You know nothing, Liz Truss.
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Its been an utter shambles. It is hard to imagine how the Truss administration can come back for such an ill-considered and Nationally damaging start. A U-turn will not undo the financial costs of the last weeks and who would step up? I dont see an alternative other than an general election and the likely installing of a Labour Government who will win, not because of their capability but because of the buffoonery of the incumbents. It's starting to make dictatorships look appealing.
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The Truss administration has been an absolute shambles, which sadly is not a surprise as the front bench since the end of Theresa May’s administration has gone from weak to weaker to scraping the barrel. Truss has no mandate, no control and absolutely no idea how to govern. A general election should be called immediately because even the most blinkered Tory voter can see this is doomed to fail. In the meantime, it might be an idea to pull Hammond or Osborne out of retirement as a caretaker to at least add some credibility and stability. Truss isn't fit to govern, has no mandate to govern and unless this government calls a general election, its credibility and that of the UK will continue to be shot to bits.
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The word "clusterf**k" comes to mind. This government is incompetent, damaging and simply untenable. Yes, a General Election should be called, but with the rest of the clowns in parliament, on both sides of the house, we could be out of the frying pan and into Dante's inferno.
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Clearly the government don't have a mandate for whatever their plan is. In fact, whether they have a plan at all isn't clear. Clustertruss and Kamikwaze have really made a right pig's ear of things and I don't see that there is any other option than to call an election for the good of the country.
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This Government is an omnishambles, but I still do not think we need a General Election, we need some stability. Even if corporation tax is returned to 25%, we all know who won't be paying, namely the big tech and global corps who can afford to weave tangled webs of legitimate avoidance for years. I'm no fan of Tory performance but I cannot listen to any cheering of a returning policy that will bash so many incredible SMEs able to turn their effort into a deserved profit. Those who demanded the U-turn could perhaps have voluntary dipped into their own coffers to close the gap? Instead, it falls upon hundreds of thousands of hard-pressed entrepreneurs to battle inflation and tax and recession. A war on three fronts. Good luck to them all.
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Shambolic, incompetent, tone-deaf. Those are the words I'd use to describe Truss's performance so far. And that's being kind. Reports are already coming in that senior tories are preparing to ask Truss to step down, seeing as Kwarteng's mini-Budget was effectively enacting her campaign promises. I think she's toast. If she lasts until Christmas, I'll be surprised. I hope a general election is called ASAP. The country can't continue with this level of political instability.
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Bring back Boris Johnson, all is forgiven. A few after-work office beers don't seem too bad now compared to this farce of a government. It's embarrassing and damaging to our nation's reputation that our governing party is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard. I don't want an election but if we had one now I would feel party-less.
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The Government have now lost all credibility. They have single-handedly made the cost of mortgages more expensive for borrowers. If Liz Truss has any decency, she will now call a General Election. Ordinary folk are sick and tired of this circus. Liz Truss hasn't got a clue. David Cameron said "Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Milliband". It's been chaos since they were elected into Government and it's not going to get any better under the Tories. The sooner they are out, we can start the long process of repairing the damage done under their stewardship.
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What a mess. Leaders need to be steadfast and hold to their ideals, not chopping and changing because of a bit of dissent. The markets were starting to calm down and now we have turned around and sailed right back into the storm. The plan was sound, invest in those that strengthen the economy so that they in turn support everyone else. It just goes to show that the whole hasty decision to remove the last PM was a rushed, ill-conceived idea as they are just as upset with the latest one they've elected. Rather than sacking the Chancellor or the PM, perhaps we need an entirely fresh set of Conservative MPs. We may as well call a General Election and hopefully whoever comes into power next will stick by their commitments and plough on through. Noone is going to have an easy time, we are due a deep and tough recession. We need to wean the general population off relying entirely on debt to fund their lifestyles, and move back to an economy where debt is only used for investments.