PLAID Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling for a General Election following the shock resignation of Liz Truss this lunch time.

Ms Truss confirmed at around 1.30pm today that she had resigned as Prime Minister after just 45 days in the role.

She added that her successor will be elected in a Tory leadership contest, to be completed in the next week.

Responding to the resignation of the Prime Minister, Liz Truss, Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader and Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP, Liz Saville Roberts, said:  ‘This chaotic circus is proof once and for all that Westminster will never work for Wales.

“Only Plaid Cymru can offer the communities of Wales a voice and vision for a better future.

“Another PM gone - but still no recognition that it’s not the individuals in Downing Street that’s the problem, but the fundamental contradictions within the Tory party as a whole.

“Brexit lies created a vacuum of accountability in Westminster – and allowed talentless zealots to seize the reins of power without an inkling how to use them.

“People in Wales are looking aghast at the chaos after being lectured for years that we need Westminster to survive.

“We urgently need a General Election so that the people of Wales can reject this Westminster chaos at the ballot box.’

“There is a duty now on Welsh Conservative MPs to recognise that their government’s time is up. Unless they do so, this disgraceful chaos will drag on indefinitely.”

First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, also called for a General Election, saying: “This has been a complete and utter failure of government with everyone in this country now having to pay the price.

“The complete lack of leadership is preventing decisions and actions from being taken to deal with the many challenges we are facing and help people over what is going to be a very difficult winter.

“Unfortunately, the deep and intractable divisions within the government means that any successor put forward will face the same set of challenges.

“A General Election is now the only way to end this paralysis.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and Mid and West Wales MS, Jane Dodds said: “Liz Truss was right to resign, but lets be clear, the problem isn’t just her or any individual Minister – the entire Conservative Party is dysfunctional from top to bottom and is unfit to lead the country.

“Since 2015, the Conservatives have lurched from extreme to extreme, causing economic vandalism on a massive scale. We owe it to the households, individuals and businesses up and down Wales and the rest of the UK who have been hit hard by this crisis, to take firm action now.

“We do not need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis, we need a general election, we need the Conservatives out of power and we need real change.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are prepared to fight a general election and play our role in removing the Conservative Party from power.”

The leader of the Conservatives in Wales, Andrew RT Davies has said: “The Prime Minister has done the right thing and stood down.

“People wherever they live in the United Kingdom are rightly concerned about the cost-of-living crisis.

“The new Prime Minister must grip this situation quickly, and provide leadership, confidence and hope to people across our nation.

“The Conservative Party must rise to this challenge, and deliver for people across Wales and the United Kingdom.”

Ceredigion MP Ben Lake said: “The Prime Minister’s resignation does not come as a surprise given the events of the past fortnight, but her tenure is nevertheless unprecedented both for its brevity and the impact it has had on the economy and public finances.

“At a time of rising living costs and increasing pressure on public services, families across the UK cannot afford another week of the Westminster political melodrama.

“There needs to be an urgent return to serious debate and decision-making to address the current crisis.

“On the basis of this week’s chaotic performance, it is impossible to argue that the current Government is capable of doing so.

“Unless there is a sudden and decisive development to the contrary it is difficult to see how the public can be denied a say on the way forward through a general election.”