MP Mark Garnier has questioned Liz Truss' leadership, claiming that she’s ‘in office but not in power.’

The Wyre Forest MP said Conservative party colleagues are split over the future of the Prime Minister.

He appeared on BBC's Politics Midlands on Sunday (October 16), following the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday.

Speaking to Politics Midlands host Elizabeth Glinka, Mr Garnier said: “Power is a very fickle thing and I think Liz Truss, as I see it, is in office but is not in power.

“The question is do we give her a chance or do we rip the plaster off?

“The really important question we’ve all got the ask ourselves I think as a party and this includes our activists and our councillors for next May is ‘do we feel confident that we should be going into the next general election, or indeed local elections, with Liz Truss as the leader’.

“And if we don’t collectively feel responsible I think we have to rip the plaster off".

Mr Garnier added: “If we are on our third leader since the last general election. We’ve got to go for a general election”.

The Wyre Forest MP also said that the bond market "crisis" is entirely inflicted by the ex-chancellor's planned mini-budget.

He said: "Everybody who wakes up at 3 o'clock in the morning worrying about their mortgage - there's a direct line of responsibility through to Kwasi Kwarteng."

It was announced last week that former Foreign Secretary and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt would become Chancellor of the Exchequer following Kwarteng's dismissal.

Reacting to the change, Mr Garnier told The Shuttle: “The turmoil in financial markets since the mini-budget three weeks ago has been unprecedented and it was inevitable that the economy would lose faith in Kwasi Kwarteng.

"Jeremy Hunt is someone I have enormous respect for, campaigning for him on his leadership bid in 2019.

"He is a hugely wise individual and I am confident that he will restore order.”