Businesses - especially smaller ones - are anxiously waiting to hear what support the new prime minister will offer them to help with their energy bills, which are soaring.

Martin McTague, the national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, is calling on Liz Truss to deliver "big and bold" action in order to match the scale of the threats facing small businesses.

He says: "Small firms, not protected by an energy price cap, are seeing bills soaring out of control."

He adds: "This is at a time of sky-high taxes, rampant inflation and supply chain disruption, creating a toxic mix which must be addressed urgently."

• You can read about how you can help firms survive crippling energy bills here.

Dharshini David
Economics correspondent

Image source, Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Cut taxes, alleviate the pain of energy bills and fix the NHS: the prime minister may find delivering on that hat-trick of pledges hard.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says inflation will add billions of pounds to the benefits bill, while tens of billions may have to go to the likes of schools and hospitals just to maintain services as their bills soar.

Higher inflation also means interest on government debt could top £100 billion next year.

The public purse looks stretched, even before those £30bn worth of tax cuts.

Adam Fleming
Newscast presenter

We've just recorded an episode of Newscast to analyse Liz Truss's victory in the race for the Tory leadership. We've been waiting 60 days, 6 minutes and 58 seconds for this (we worked it out).

Her former advisor Kirsty Buchanan explained what will be going through her old boss's mind, how she'll handle the cost of living crisis and whether she has empathy with people struggling to pay their bills.

I noticed three things during Truss's speech: the cringe when she mentioned Boris Johnson, the fact that she can't deliver the 2019 Tory manifesto AND be bold at the same time, and although the personal animosity between her and Rishi Sunak may disappear, the divide on economic policy within the Tory party will remain.

And Chris described the room where it happened as "sweaty".

You can listen and subscribe to Newscast on BBC Sounds.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, who backed Rishi Sunak's bid to be prime minister, says Liz Truss must appoint a cabinet from across the spectrum of the Tory party, adding that there is restoration work to be done.

He tells the BBC the vote was "far closer" than the polls had suggested, but adds: "I don't think the country would forgive us if we didn't rally around now."

He says that while Sunak lost the leadership election, he "won the argument" about supporting the country through this winter and the energy crisis.

"Rishi's a very capable politician, he proved that during the leadership debates... I hope there's a place for Rishi in the government. I think he would be a huge loss to the party," Bridgen adds.

Some reaction now on Liz Truss's win from Thetford, a town in her South West Norfolk constituency.

“Good luck to her, she’ll be good for us hopefully," says Anwar Noor, 60, who has lived in Thetford for 40 years.

He acknowledged Truss will be busy for a while with a "hard task on her hands", but hopes she will look in on the town.

"I hope she comes again and looks at the town - it’s completely dead," he says.

Truss was elected MP for South West Norfolk.in the 2010 general election.

Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have had a final conversation, after months of close cooperation between the two leaders following the Russian invasion in February.

In a call with the outgoing UK prime minister, Zelensky says he thanked Johnson on behalf of all Ukrainian people for "his personal bravery, principles & a major contribution" to countering Russian aggression.

"I look forward to cooperation with a great friend of [Ukraine] in a new status", he adds.

Image source, PA Media

Awkward applause shows struggle over Boris Johnson's legacypublished at 15:25 British Summer Time 5 September 2022

15:25 BST 5 September 2022

Adam Fleming
Newscast presenter

Liz Truss's praise for Boris Johnson during her acceptance speech was met with awkward applause from Tory MPs and activists.

You could feel the squirming through the TV.

It shows a party that is struggling to come to terms with the legacy of its former leader.

The former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said Johnson's problems fundamentally came down to a lack of trust in his own judgement.

He told my podcast Boris: "I think if there's an epitaph for the Johnson government, it will be the phrase: 'I knew it was a mistake, but I let them persuade me.'

"I've seen Boris so many times be persuaded by people around him - who he thought knew better - out of a course of action that he thought was the right one," he said.

"And actually his judgement on those things is pretty good, better than a lot of the people around him."

He added: "He's got a better feel for things, but he is very easily persuaded by people around him."

• You can listen to Adam Fleming's podcast series 'Boris' here on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

Ben Elliot, the Conservative party co-chairman, has stood down following Liz Truss's appointment as prime minister.

He had held the position since 2019 and, in a statement, said it had been an "honour and a privilege".

He added that he wished Liz Truss "every success in leading our great country, particularly given the challenges of the winter ahead".

A Tory party source indicated that Ben Elliot wanted to give Truss the space to appoint her own party chairs.

Image source, PA Media

Education Secretary James Cleverly has said he will support Liz Truss in "whatever way I'm able to" - but also refused to speculate about who will be in government.

Cleverly is expected to take over from Truss herself as foreign secretary, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in line to be the next chancellor, while Attorney General Suella Braverman is favourite for home secretary.

Asked whether he's concerned she will be less popular with the public than Boris Johnson, Cleverly says he believes people will "warm" to her over time.

Image source, Reuters

Liz Truss is now the leader of the Conservative Party - but she is not yet prime minister, so what are the next steps?

• Boris Johnson has not formally quit as premier, which will happen tomorrow
• He is expected to make his last address in the morning from outside Downing Street around 08:00 BST
• Immediately afterwards, he will leave for Balmoral in Scotland to see the Queen. Shortly after that, Truss will do the same
• She will become the 15th British prime minister to be appointed by the current monarch, and the first to be appointed outside London, as the 96-year-old is unable to travel to the capital
• Johnson and Truss will then travel back to London - and the new PM will have her own podium moment, appearing outside No 10 in the afternoon
• From then on, a flurry of cabinet announcements is expected into the evening, as Truss builds her new government
• Then on Wednesday, work in the Commons begins for Truss as she faces Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions at midday

Ione Wells
Reporting from QEII Centre, London

Liz Truss appeared to hint she won’t call an early election, saying she would deliver a “victory in 2024". That’s certainly also the view of some of her MP backers.

One prominent supporter I spoke to at the result announcement said the government would be dealing with the difficulties of this energy crisis for at least a year, if not longer.

That would not only make it hard to justify putting "business as usual" on pause for yet another campaign, but also potentially a politically tricky time to call one for the Tories - with the party currently falling behind Labour in consecutive polls.

Dominic Raab, the current deputy prime minister and justice secretary, says he does not expect to be in Liz Truss's government.

He says he would support Truss in any capacity but adds he is "certainly not expecting to be given an appointment".

Asked whether he expected to be out of a job tomorrow, he says: "Yes... I think some of the media briefings have given some indication."

Raab backed Rishi Sunak to be leader throughout the campaign. While pointing out the result was closer than many predicted he said: "Now, we move on."

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

There will be very little if any honeymoon period for Liz Truss, as the country clamours for answers to huge questions the caretaker government of Boris Johnson in recent months felt unempowered to take on.

There is inflation, Ukraine, energy security, the NHS with winter approaching, the contrails of Brexit and... a general election that isn't far away.

The Conservatives have consistently been some way behind Labour in the polls all year. And there has to be an election by January 2025 at the latest.

Politics is being reset, but it will continue to be competitive, noisy and unpredictable.

While many things change, some never do.

Read more on the challenges Liz Truss faces here.

Liz Truss's biggest task will be dealing with the impact of rising energy costs on households and businesses.

One family has told BBC Panorama about how "electricity is the difference between life and death" for their nine-year-old disabled daughter, who needs constant electrical medical equipment.

Dan McEvoy and Maiju Heikkinen, from Bournemouth, say their energy bills have already trebled in the past year.

"We can afford to pay for the bills that keep Elisa alive, which about works if the bill stays like this. But not for long, especially if there’s going to be another price hike. We can’t shave off anything anymore," said Maiju.

The family say they may have to put Elisa into care if the bills keep going up.

"I feel awful as a father," says McEvoy. "We can’t sleep at night."

Watch more on Panorama’s The Energy Crisis: Who’s Cashing In? on BBC One at 20:00 BST or on iPlayer afterwards (UK only)

Ione Wells
Political corespondent

There’s not much time for a breather in politics.

After, I’m told, a short break for lunch, Liz Truss’s team are already turning their eyes to the immediate challenge of announcing what support might come to help people with their rising energy bills.

Truss has pledged a plan within a week, and a source close to her tells me we will hear her plans for both household bills and improving our long-term energy supply within that timeframe.

Sources have told the BBC an update is pencilled in for Thursday. Before then, she will undoubtedly face questions on the topic from Labour leader Keir Starmer at her first Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

European Union Commission president Ursula von der Leyen congratulates Truss, saying she anticipates a "constructive relationship",

Brian Wheeler
Senior reporter, BBC Politics

One quirk of Tory leadership contests is that we find out how many members the party has got.

They are the only major UK party not to routinely release membership figures – but they do release the number entitled to take part in the leadership ballot.

That means the party had 172,437 members at the start of the contest in July.

That’s a slight increase on the 159,320 members entitled to vote in the 2019 contest that Boris Johnson won.

The turnout in this year’s contest was 82.6%, with 141,725 party members casting a ballot.

The outgoing PM has congratulated Liz Truss on what he called a "decisive win".

"I know she has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country," he tweeted., external "Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent."

Johnson, who will formally offer his resignation to the Queen at Balmoral Castle tomorrow, said he had been proud to serve as Tory leader for the last three years and "winning the biggest majority for decades" for his party.

So we now know Liz Truss will become the new UK prime minister after her victory in the Conservative Party leadership race. But what do we know about the 47-year-old?

In many ways, Mary Elizabeth Truss is not a conventional Tory.

Born in Oxford in 1975, she has described her father - a mathematics professor - and her mother - a nurse - as “left-wing”

As a young girl, her mother took part in marches for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament - an organisation vehemently opposed to the Thatcher government's decision to allow US nuclear warheads to be installed at RAF Greenham Common, west of London.

Image source, Liz Truss/Instagram

After moving to Paisley, just west of Glasgow, when she was four, the family then decamped once more to Leeds, where she attended a state secondary school.

She went onto study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, where she was active in student politics - initially for the Liberal Democrats, before switching to the Conservatives.

After graduating, she worked as an accountant for the oil and gas company Shell, as well as telecommunications company Cable & Wireless. She married fellow accountant Hugh O’Leary in 2000. They have two children.

Find out more about Liz Truss here and listen to a profile of her with Newscast here.

Runner-up Rishi Sunak has tweeted his reaction after losing out to Liz Truss, saying that Conservatives are "one family" and should unite behind the new leader.