You don’t expect press releases to become obsolete quite so quickly but the past forty-eight hours have been historic (or hysterical, depending upon your perspective), so these, published in chronological order, perhaps sum up the events of the day…

• Trevelyan refuses to back Truss: Conservatives way past their sell by date
• NHS waiting list in Wales hits three-quarters of a million as health service “brought to its knees”
• Truss resigns: Conservatives must do patriotic duty and back election
• Welsh Lib Dems – Conservatives must do patriotic duty and back election
• Conservative MPs must block Boris Johnson’s return
• Deny Truss the £115k a year taxpayer dividend offered to ex-PMs, say Lib Dems

Trevelyan refuses to back Truss: Conservatives way past their sell by date

Responding to the latest Conservative chaos, with Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan failing to to answer whether Liz Truss will lead the Conservatives into the next election, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said:

Liz Truss and the Conservatives are way past their sell by date. This is a government that can’t govern, led by a prime minister whose authority has been totally shredded.

People worried sick about how to pay the bills are looking on aghast at this never ending chaos and incompetence. The Conservatives must stop clinging to power and give the country the general election it needs.

NHS waiting list in Wales hits three-quarters of a million as health service “brought to its knees”

Responding to the news that the NHS Wales backlog has now hit 750,000 Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

Behind these figures are countless human tragedies. In every corner of the country people are frightened, suffering and waiting in pain because our NHS can no longer cope.

Labour is letting the NHS fall to its knees and patients are paying the price. Wales routinely has the worse health figures in Britain despite all nations facing similar challenges. This cannot go on.

The Government must come forward with a proper plan to bring down waiting times and recruit and retain more NHS staff. The Welsh Liberal Democrats will continue to call for greater investment in primary healthcare facilities, GPs and social care.

We must prevent people from getting so ill they require either treatment in A&E or complex treatment paths if we are to reduce pressures on the system, this starts at ensuring people can access their GP easily. We also need to ensure patients can be discharged safely once their treatment is finished.

Truss resigns: Conservatives must do patriotic duty and back election

Responding to Liz Truss resigning as Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Boris Johnson failed our country and Liz Truss trashed our economy. The Conservatives have proven time and time again they are not fit to lead our great country.

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.

It is time for Conservative MPs to do their patriotic duty, put the country first and give the people a say.

Welsh Lib Dems – Conservatives must do patriotic duty and back election

Responding to Liz Truss resigning as Prime Minister, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds stated:

Liz Truss was right to resign, but let’s 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.

Conservative MPs must block Boris Johnson’s return

The Liberal Democrats are calling for Boris Johnson to be barred from standing in the Conservative Leadership election and returning to Number 10.

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper MP said:

The fact that Conservative MPs are even considering putting Boris Johnson back in Number 10 shows how out of touch they really are. They think there’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.

Boris Johnson was forced to resign in disgrace after countless lies, scandals and failures. He shattered public trust in the government and plunged the UK into a political crisis. He must never be allowed near Downing Street again.

The future of our country should be in the hands of voters, not the Conservative MPs who have caused all this chaos.

Deny Truss the £115k a year taxpayer dividend offered to ex-PMs, say Lib Dems

Liz Truss, the shortest serving Prime Minister in British political history, should not be entitled to the £115k a year taxpayer dividend which former Prime Ministers are able to claim, the Liberal Democrats have said today.

Former Prime Ministers are able to claim a sum of money from the taxpayer to fund office costs, under the Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA). The ability to access this sum – currently set at £115k a year – lasts for life.

That means that over the next decade, Truss will be able to claim a maximum total of £1.15 million from the taxpayer, presuming the £115k limit stays fixed. That sum of money could fund almost 4,000 ambulance trips or nearly 30,000 GP appointments.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine commented:

Liz Truss will forever be known as the fifty-day Prime Minister. There is no way that she should be permitted to access the same £115k a year for life fund as her recent predecessors – all of whom served for well over two years.

To make matters worse, Truss’s legacy is an economic disaster – for which the Conservatives are making taxpayers foot the bill. For Truss to walk off into the sunset with a potential six figure dividend, while leaving the British public to suffer, would be unconscionable.

This huge potential payout will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the millions of people struggling with spiralling bills and eye-watering mortgage rate rises thanks to the Conservatives’ economic mismanagement.