Liz Truss resignation honours rejected in poll – ‘has to be earned’

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss should not have a resignation honours list after her seven weeks in office, a new poll of Express.co.uk readers has found. As is tradition for out-going leaders, Ms Truss is reportedly preparing to give her closest aides and allies political honours. Awards for individuals who made a positive contribution during a premiership typically include peerages to the unelected House of Lords, knighthoods, MBEs and CBEs.The UK’s shortest-serving leader, however, is facing calls to shorten her list to avoid ’embarrassing the King’ with one source telling The Observer that a resignation honours list would be seen as inappropriate by Buckingham Palace.The source, with close knowledge of honours protocol, explained: ‘This situation is completely unprecedented. I am sure a lot of people will be saying to Liz you can have an honours list but it has to be pretty small, not everyone in your office, not what David Cameron did.’She was a bona fide Prime Minister. She can do it but there will be a lot of pressure on her from the Palace, from the Cabinet Office, saying keep the numbers down, not using it to give out honours to lots of people. Simon Case would be saying, ‘Do it but don’t go mad.”Meanwhile, a source close to Ms Truss told the Times that she is expected to recognise a ‘handful’ of ‘local community heroes’ around her constituency in Norfolk instead of a full honours list. Liz Truss served as Prime Minister for 50 days (Image: Getty)In a poll that ran from 10am on Monday, October 31, to 10:30am on Tuesday, November 1, Express.co.uk asked readers: ‘Should Liz Truss be allowed a resignation honours list?’Overall, 3,811 people cast their votes with the vast majority, 92 percent (3,504 people) answering ‘no’ against Ms Truss having a resignation honours list.A further eight percent (287 people) said ‘yes’ she should be allowed one, while 20 people said they did not know.In the dozens of comments left below the accompanying article, readers debated whether Ms Truss deserved a resignation honours list.Many commented that Ms Truss’ seven weeks in office did not warrant her the ability to appoint honours, with username Greeneyz writing: ‘There needs to be a longer qualifying period for all the perks that come after serving as PM. They have to be earned.’Username C52J said: ‘No resigning Prime Minister should be allowed to submit an honours list unless they serve at least one full term in office.’While username Valantine said: ‘No she should not give any honours, because she wasn’t a Prime Minster long enough for a start.’And username Maurice said: ‘To give anyone honours at this moment would only devalue the whole honours system.’DON’T MISS:Truss ‘obsessively’ checking weather charts in her final days as PM [REPORT]Boris set to ‘upstage’ Sunak with plan to attend COP27 summit [INSIGHT]Jeremy Hunt is preparing to crush us with austerity yet looks happy [COMMENT] Liz Truss resigned 45 days in to her premiership (Image: Getty) It is conventional for Prime Ministers to issue a resignation honours list including peerages (Image: Getty)Willie Sullivan of the Electoral Reform Society also argued that a resignation honours list from Ms Truss would undermine Westminster’s legitimacy. He explained: ‘A seat in the House of Lords should not be a reward for failure. If Liz Truss chooses to pack the Lords with new peers on leaving office, it will only further damage Westminster’s legitimacy at a time when public faith in politics is already stretched to the limit.’We need a smaller, elected House of Lords, where lawmakers are chosen by the people they serve not hand-picked by the prime minister of the day. It’s time to end this farce and deliver the democratic second chamber our country needs.’However, other readers argued that Ms Truss deserved to have a resignation honours list, as is conventional, with username dannyboy171 writing: ‘She was PM so has the right, simple as that.’Another, Username Lelly, said: ‘Yes. If that’s what the rules say. Rules are rules.’ And username NWO3 wrote: ‘Why should she be denied? She was our Prime Read More UK News