According to a poll, Liz Truss is the Tory’s favourite candidate to replace Boris Johnson in Prime Minister position.

New figures show that the UK’s new top diplomat and leading Brexit negotiator has surpassed the Chancellor in popularity following his November tax-and-spend budget.

Mr Sunak unveiled a free-spending Budget last month, choosing to ‘invest’ rather than ‘retrench’ after the pandemic hammered the country.

Departmental spending will go up by £150billion over this parliament – an average of 3.8 per cent a year in real terms, the fastest rate this century.

Additionally, there was an increase in spending on schools and other benefits. This year, Mr Johnson was supported by the Treasury and unveiled major social care reforms funded by an increase in National Insurance payments.  

It appears that this has not gone down well with Conservative members who favored Mr Sunak’s top move to No11 from No10 in an August Conservative Home poll.

The same question was posed to the readers today and Ms Truss surged over him.

She is a popular member and was elevated to Foreign Office as part of the latest reshuffle. 

Also, she took over EU negotiation responsibilities after Lord Frost left as Brexit Minister.

Liz Truss

Rishi Sunak

New figures show that the UK’s new top diplomat and leading Brexit negotiator has surpassed the Chancellor in popularity following his November tax-and-spend budget.

The findings were made after another poll indicated that Mr Sunak is more popular among the public.  

MailOnline’s Christmas Day poll found that there was broad support for Mr Johnson being removed as leader by 25% of respondents and 35% who felt it was the right decision.

The research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies suggest that Rishi Sunak would be the preferred replacement in No10.

29% thought he’d be better, and 14% saw him as an upgrade to Ms Truss or Sajid Javid – figures that are superior to those two ministers who often compete for the top job.   

A third of Tory supporters voted for the Chancellor when they were asked to select a Tory leader among a variety of candidates. Only 9 percent chose Ms Truss.

 Keir Starmer was seen as an improvement by 48 per cent, while 25 per cent believed he would be worse.

A poll for MailOnline found broad support for the Tories getting rid of Mr Johnson as leader

MailOnline poll found widespread support for Mr Johnson being removed as leader by the Tories

Some 29 per cent thought Rishi Sunak would be better as PM, and a further 14 per cent saw him as a 'significant' upgrade - superior figures to Liz Truss

Rishi Sunak was viewed as better than Liz Truss by 29%. Another 14% regarded him as an ‘important’ upgrade.

Boris Johnson, along with Professor Chris Whitty (his top adviser) and Sir Patrick Vallance (his top adviser), will see how Christmas infects him. The meeting will determine if new legal safeguards are needed ahead of the 2021 social hurrah.

The new rules for Christmas are being announced by the Welsh and Scottish governments. This includes Hogmanay ceremonies in Edinburgh being cancelled for the second straight year.

Downing Street, which described the meeting between the PM and his advisers as routine, is understood to be leaning towards new guidance urging people in England to be careful and limit contacts – rather than imposing new legally binding restrictions such as table service in pubs or limits on household mixing.

This could all change, however, if the data regarding hospitalisations indicates that there could be a surge in coronavirus-related infections to overwhelm the NHS.

To remove all legal restrictions, Parliament would need to be recalled within 48 hours. This can happen quickly and could cause severe problems in the industry.

He was warned by his cabinet members and backbenchers to not overreact.

The Guardian was told by one minister that data wasn’t convincing enough to support the need for legislation changes.

Treasurer of 1922 Committee of backbench Torries Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brownn (Cotswolds MP) told LBC that “the latest numbers we had prior to Christmas showed that there was a relatively stable number of patients in the hospital – that’s the main reason why we need further lockdowns. It is necessary to treat infectivity in the hospitals. I didn’t see it before Christmas.

“So, I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will be extremely, very careful before adding more measures.

Sir Geoffrey stated that people are ‘taking matters in their own hands’ and are’very cautious themselves’. He added: “That’s the best solution to this problem – let people take their own decisions.”

Teachers unions also warned that entire year classes could be removed from school due to shortages of staff in Covid.

The teachers warned that mock exams or other exam candidates would not be allowed to sit if there is widespread sickness among the teachers.