Frequent Changes in the UK Prime Minister from 2016 to 2022: The

Political Economy Perspective

Shuyi Wang

Department of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs Management, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, 102200, China

Keywords: Political Economy, UK Prime Minister, Political Stability, Economic Governance.

Abstract: Since 2016, the turnover rate of the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister has reached a high level compared

with recent years, with five leaders assuming office in just seven years. This paper analyzes this political

instability through a political economy lens, arguing that the interplay between economic shocks and

institutional vulnerabilities has created a self-reinforcing cycle of leadership turnover. Three key dynamics

are being identified. First, successive economic crises have systematically weakened governing authority;

second, the UK's political system lacks robust safeguards against rapid leadership removal; and third, policy

missteps in responding to these crises have accelerated political fallout. Through case studies of Theresa May,

Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss's premierships, how economic pressures translate into leadership vulnerabilities

in the UK's unique constitutional context is demonstrated. Furthermore, this paper also compares the UK with

Germany, whose leadership stability is worthy of being mentioned and praised under the current volatile

international situation, contrasting the differences from a political, economic, and social point of view between

the UK and Germany. This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between economic governance

and political stability in advanced democracies facing multiple crises.

1 INTRODUCTION

When taking a brief view of the United Kingdom's

political circles in recent years, we can find that, since

2016, the Prime Minister has changed frequently.

Compared to the relative stability of earlier decades,

when Prime Ministers usually held office for several

terms, this extraordinary frequency of leadership

transitions is a sharp contrast. The Brexit referendum

in June 2016, which precipitated Cameron's

resignation and started a series of political and

economic crises that are still reshaping British

politics, marking the beginning of the current

turbulent period. Every changeover has revealed

deeper structural issues in the political economy of

the United Kingdom in addition to individual political

shortcomings. Multiple overlapping crises have

accompanied this instability, including the lengthy

Brexit discussions, the COVID-19 epidemic, the cost-

of-living issue, and the significant market turmoil that

followed the Truss government's contentious "mini-

budget."

This essay addresses two interconnected

questions: What are the reasons for the UK's high rate

of leadership transitions since 2016 and how might

political economic variables contribute to this

instability? A more thorough understanding

necessitates looking at the relationship between

economic shocks, institutional frameworks, and

policy responses, even though superficial

explanations frequently concentrate on the faults of

particular leaders or particular policy failures. The

main problem is why, in contrast to other developed

democracies dealing with comparable global issues,

like Germany, the political system of the United

Kingdom has proven especially susceptible to

volatility in its leadership. This essay also makes the

case that the UK's high Prime Minister turnover since

2016 is caused by three main factors: first, the long-

lasting economic shocks brought on by Brexit and

their escalation by later international crises; second,

the UK's political system's institutional flaws that

make leadership roles especially susceptible to crises;

and third, a history of policy failures in handling

economic difficulties that have damaged party and

public confidence. The political economy method

used here highlights how political actors are

constrained by economic circumstances and how

political choices influence economic results. The

Wang, S.

Frequent Changes in the UK Prime Minister from 2016 to 2022: The Political Economy Perspective.

DOI: 10.5220/0014294200004859

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Politics, Law, and Social Science (ICPLSS 2025), pages 88-95

ISBN: 978-989-758-785-6

study is centered on this recursive link between

political survival and economic circumstances.

2 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF

LEADERSHIP INSTABILITY

2.1 Definition of Political Economy

Approach

The relationship between political decision-making

and economic circumstances is examined via the

political economy approach. This part examines how

institutional frameworks, electoral pressures, and

financial crises influence the tenure and turnover of

political leaders in the setting of leadership

instability.

2.2 Party Dynamic

The UK is a typical two-party state. Though the

Conservatives and Labor parties see each other as

their biggest rivals, having fought with each other for

the formation of a cabinet, a more complicated picture

with distinct party systems has replaced the

traditional two-party system of early post-war Britain.

According to Patrick Dunleavy and Francoise

Broucek, who used quantitative analyses to show the

declining "effectiveness" of the UK's two-party

system. They argued that the rise of smaller parties

like the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal

Democrats at the local and national levels has

weakened the parties' control of parliament, resulting

in frequent coalition governments and challenging

policy compromises(Dunleavy & Boucek, 2003).

Besides, the ideological rivalry between the

Conservative and Labor parties has led to policy

polarization, forcing voters to choose between

extremes of ‘either/or’ and exacerbating voter

dissatisfaction.

2.3 Electoral System

The UK Prime Minister has no fixed term, serving at

the pleasure of their party and Parliament. This will

lead to a great deal of uncertainty about who the

Prime Minister is and what his term of office will be.

Another characteristic of the UK electoral system is

First Past the Post (FPTP), which means that voters in

a single constituency are required to vote only once,

and the person receiving the greatest number of votes

of all the candidates is elected, irrespective of the

absolute number of votes. Though this kind of

electoral system has its advantages in saving time and

cost, it tends to favor majorities and large parties to

the detriment of small parties (Lewis-Beck &

Stegmaier, 2000). As a result, with the continuous

growth and development of some small political

parties in the UK, the existing FPTP can no longer

make the parliamentary election able to satisfy and

reflect the proper representation of the House of

Commons. More specifically, this calls into question

the democratic nature of the election results and the

representativeness of the membership of the

Parliament. As a two-party country, the current

electoral system is likely to continue to change Prime

Ministers more frequently than the Western European

average.

2.4 Economic Crisis

In democracies around the world, election results are

influenced by economic factors. The level of

unemployment and the pace of inflation have a

significant impact on government authority.

Recessions, particularly those characterized by high

unemployment and negative GDP growth, greatly

lower the likelihood of re-election for ruling parties,

according to Michael S. Lewis-Beck and Mary

Stegmaier. When the incumbent government

performs poorly in elections, voters often blame it on

economic factors. In other words, a vote against the

person in charge is far more likely when citizens are

unhappy with the state of the economy. Since 2016,

the UK has experienced Brexit and Covid-19, both of

which have posed great threats to the UK’s economy,

especially after the pandemic. These conditions

caused citizens’ great distrust of the existing

government (Collignon et al., 2021).

3 ECONOMIC SHOCKS AND

THEIR POLITICAL

CONSEQUENCES

Economic shocks have the power to topple

governments, alter political environments, and reduce

people’s confidence in the political system (Margalit,

2019). Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022

cost-of-living crisis have all occurred since 2016,

illustrating how economic upheavals exacerbate

political unrest. Three significant shocks, as well as

their effects on the economy and their political

ramifications, are examined in this section.

Frequent Changes in the UK Prime Minister from 2016 to 2022: The Political Economy Perspective

3.1 Brexit as an Economic Disruptor

In 2016, the UK held a referendum on the continued

participation of the United Kingdom in the European

Union, and Brexiteers narrowly won. The subsequent

withdrawal from the EU in 2020 caused immediate

and long-term economic disruptions. Since then, as a

significant world economy, the UK has been deeply

shocked.

The first and most tangible change is that the trade

between the UK and the EU has been reduced. After

Brexit, the tariff and non-tariff barriers are on the rise.

The UK and the EU no longer enjoyed the original

zero-tariff free trade arrangement, even with the

Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA), which

went into effect in 2021. Tariffs on certain goods,

such as automobiles and agricultural products, raised

operating expenses for enterprises in the UK. Besides

customs inspections, certification of rules of origin,

sanitary and quarantine standards, and other

processes have become more cumbersome, leading to

a decrease in trade efficiency. According to a survey,

the non-tariff barriers have increased average

business costs by 15-20%, with small and medium-

sized enterprises being hit hard (Bloom et al., 2019).

Secondly, Brexit also caused investment uncertainty.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) dropped, as firms

delayed expansion due to regulatory uncertainty.

Finally, as the UK no longer belonged to the EU, the

free flow policies of the labor market were no longer

applicable to the UK. That caused EU migrant

workers to decline, exacerbating shortages in

healthcare, agriculture, and logistics.

The referendum on Brexit being approved has

directly led to the resignation of Prime Minister

David Cameron, who was in favor of remaining in the

EU. After the resignation, Theresa May became the

new Prime Minister. In the early period of her tenure,

May made the moderate Brexit and maintaining

economic stability her target. In March 2017, she

announced the official start of the process of Brexit.

However, the key point of contention in the first

version of the Brexit deal was the Northern Ireland

border Backstop option, whereby Northern Ireland

would remain in the European Union customs union

to avoid a 'hard border' if the UK and EU did not reach

a future trade deal. This option was seen as a

'permanent trap' by the Brexiteers in the British

Conservative Party, agreeing to be rejected three

times in the House of Commons. The Democratic

Unionist Party of Northern Ireland opposed her

handling of the border and saw her as compromising

too much to the EU. Business leaders, they criticized

her inability to secure a stable transition, worsening

economic anxiety. Under these circumstances, May's

intention to deliver her Brexit proposal to Parliament

for the fourth time in May 2019 has been even more

controversial and has been the impetus for her

downfall. Under pressure, she announced on 24 May

that she would resign as leader of the Conservative

Party.

With Theresa May's resignation as Conservative

leader in June 2019, Boris Johnson then declared his

candidacy. Johnson capitalized on public frustration,

winning a landslide in 2019 by promising to finalize

Brexit. However, his strict stance increased economic

instability. Brexit exposed how economic shocks may

paralyze the government and lead to changes in

leadership and restructuring of party politics.

3.2 The Covid-19 Pandemic and Fiscal

Stress

Since 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused

economic depression, exposing the UK economy's

dependence on services and supply chain

vulnerabilities. On top of that, the pandemic triggered

unprecedented fiscal interventions. After the

pandemic, the UK's GDP plunged 20.4 % in the

second quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, the biggest

drop since records began in 1955. Preliminary

statistics released by the Office for National Statistics

(ONS) on 12 December showed that the UK's GDP

contracted by 9.9 % in 2020, the biggest annual fall

since records were kept. As for the unemployment

rate, it rose from 3.8% to 4.8% in 2020 (ONS), with

youth unemployment reaching 16% at one point

(Resolution Foundation).

To make matters worse, while initially stabilizing,

the UK's response to the COVID-19 epidemic had

serious long-term effects, especially in terms of

public debt and inflation, which changed political and

economic stability. The first challenge was that the

massive public spending caused debt surge and fiscal

risks. To avert widespread unemployment, the

government spent £70 billion to pay 11.7 million

workers 80% of their earnings. However, this resulted

in a large increase in the national debt. Apart from

that, the government has provided grants and loans to

enterprises to keep them alive, which has resulted in

fraud and zombie corporations. All these actions

made the debt-to-GDP ratio skyrocket, rising from

85% in 2019 to 104% in 2021, the highest level since

the 1960s (Gopinath, 2022).

All these situations marked economic

mismanagement, eroding the citizens' trust in the

government. At that time, the British anti-epidemic

policy led to the banning of most gatherings.

ICPLSS 2025 - International Conference on Politics, Law, and Social Science

Although the UK government also implemented

several closure policies to prevent the epidemic, the

politicians continued to hold gatherings in violation

of the epidemic regulations, with Prime Minister

Boris Johnson attending at least three of the

gatherings. Public anger grew as inflation squeezed

households while elites appeared unaccountable.

After this "Partygate" scandal, which revealed that the

lockdown-breaking parties overshadowed economic

recovery efforts, Johnson was forced to resign as a

result of scandals and economic unrest that damaged

his reputation.

3.3 The 2022 Cost-of-Living Crisis and

Marketturmoil

The year 2022 was a year of ups and downs. This

year, a combination of external shocks and internal

policy failures worsened the situation. In February

2022, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke

out. The UK was not an exception to the global

energy crisis brought on by the Russian-Ukrainian

conflict, which had far-reaching and significant

ramifications for global energy development. The

direct influence was the disruption of natural gas

supplies from Russia. To solve the problem, the

government was forced to buy gas from other

countries like the USA and Norway, which not only

increased the cost but also directly contributed to

inflation and significant increases in household

energy expenditures. Chris Rogers, a prominent

supply chain economist, notes that the biggest

economic consequence of this crisis on the UK and

Europe at large “is very much going to be in terms of

what it means for supply chain cost inflation” (Mbah

& Wasum, 2022).

To boost growth in the inflation-stricken British

economy through massive tax cuts and increased

fiscal stimulus, Liz Truss, who became Prime

Minister of the UK in September 2022, launched a

radical tax cut program, releasing the "mini-budget"

program of the government in September. This policy

included a massive tax cut package, with plans to

reduce the 45% top income tax levied on people

earning more than £150,000 a year to 40%, and

canceled the previous government's plan to increase

the corporate tax rate from 19% to 25%, maintaining

the 19% rate.

Following the announcement of the proposal, the

pound sterling hit a record low versus the dollar,

driving up the cost of borrowing for the government

and forcing the Bank of England to temporarily buy

bonds to calm the debt market. Under this

circumstance, Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Chancellor of

the Exchequer, announced the scrapping of tax cuts in

October, and he was asked to resign 10 days later,

with successor Jeremy Hunt reversing almost all tax

cuts. In the aftermath, despite Truss apologizing for

the turmoil caused by the tax cut plan, her support

within the Conservative Party plummeted. Under

pressure, Truss announced her resignation as leader

of the Conservative Party on October 20, and she

officially left her post as Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom to be replaced by Rishi Sunak on October

25, whom she had defeated in September.

4 INSTITUTIONAL AND

POLITICAL FACTORS

Some existing contradictions in British politics are

seen in the UK's recent high turnover of Prime

Ministers, which included David Cameron and Liz

Truss in just six years. The UK's unwritten

constitution, internal party dynamics, and media

pressures make it possible to remove leaders quickly.

This section looks at how leadership instability is

influenced by the political system of the UK, the

instability of the Conservative Party, and outside

forces.

4.1 The UK’s Unwritten Constitution

and Leadership Vulnerability

Since the UK does not have a written constitution, it

is the traditions rather than fixed laws that control the

Prime Minister's authority. UK Prime Ministers are

only in office for as long as they maintain the support

of their party and Parliament, in contrast to US

presidents, who are elected to four-year terms unless

removed. Through internal party processes like no-

confidence votes or leadership challenges, this system

enables quick removal.

New circumstances and situations encountered by

the government can be resolved through precedent or

customary means (Johari, 2006). As for the UK,

however, while the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act

(2011–2022) set general election dates every five

years, it did not protect Prime Ministers from internal

party removals. A sitting Prime Minister can be

ousted if they lose a leadership challenge, like

Theresa May in 2019, or face overwhelming pressure

to resign, like Boris Johnson in 2022. Additionally,

the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee has upheld

leadership regulations, which means that even in the

absence of a general election, a Prime Minister may

be removed if they lose support from the backbench.

Frequent Changes in the UK Prime Minister from 2016 to 2022: The Political Economy Perspective

Unlike the USA, whose president serves fixed

terms unless impeached, the UK’s Prime Minister can

be easily removed by their members of parliament, as

seen in Liz Truss’s resignation after only 45 days.

Under the parliamentary system, the Prime Minister

is accountable only to Parliament, and when the

Prime Minister fails to obtain a majority of votes in

Parliament, he or she, along with the cabinet, must

resign. When groups within the ruling party conflict,

this flexibility—which is meant to maintain party

unity—often causes instability. In a presidential

system, on the other hand, the president is elected by

the voters and is directly accountable to the people.

The parliament or congress is usually unable to hold

a vote of no confidence in the president.

4.2 The Conservative Party’S Internal

Instability

The Conservative Party has been sharply split since

2016 over issues of leadership, economic policy, and

Brexit. As many facets of the party compete for

dominance, these factional conflicts have sped up the

turnover of leadership.

The first division was the difference between the

Leavers and the Remainers in terms of the UK’s role

in the EU, which has been talked about in detail

above. For instance, the party was divided by the

2016 referendum into pro-EU (like Theresa May) and

pro-Brexit (like Boris Johnson) sections. May's

failure to bring these groups together ultimately

resulted in her resignation. Secondly, since 2010, the

Conservative Party's economic policies have been

characterized by a fundamental conflict between

fiscal conservatism and the rising demand for public

investment, which has exacerbated instability in the

party's leadership. Following the 2008 financial

crisis, the government implemented strict austerity

measures under David Cameron and George Osborne

to lower the budget deficit. However, following the

EU referendum in 2016, there was a significant

change in the political and economic environment.

New demands for more public spending were brought

about by Brexit. This placed the Conservatives in a

challenging position: a growing faction, led by Boris

Johnson and Liz Truss, argued for looser spending to

spur growth and win electoral support, while the

party's traditional fiscal conservatives, like Rishi

Sunak, insisted on maintaining budgetary discipline.

This episode also highlighted a broader trend: the

Conservative Party’s inability to settle on a coherent

post-Brexit economic strategy has left it vulnerable to

repeated leadership challenges, as different factions

push competing visions for the country’s fiscal future.

There was much more to the 2022 Conservative

leadership contest between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

than just a power war. Regarding the role of the

government in the economy, it revealed a deep

ideological division within the Conservative Party. In

addition to determining the Conservative Party's

course of growth, this conflict between opposing

economic theories ultimately revealed how

susceptible the UK political system is to abrupt

changes in leadership based on unproven policy

programs. And two completely different ideas for the

future of the British economy were exposed by the

competition. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who

personified the Tory legacy of fiscal restraint, was on

one side. His platform promoted gradual deficit

reduction to fight inflation and stressed keeping

current tax levels to restore public finances (Li,

2022). Liz Truss, in contrast, presented herself as a

radical reformer who supported what she called a

"new economic approach" that included supply-side

measures to boost growth and immediate,

comprehensive tax cuts of £45 billion.

4.3 Media and Public Opinion Pressure

With the Conservative Party's sustained drop in

public popularity, the UK's unusually combative

media landscape has produced an atmosphere where

leadership positions are becoming more precarious.

British Prime Ministers have to deal with a constant,

round-the-clock news cycle, partisan tabloid

campaigns, and internal party panic over polling

collapses, all of which can force a leader out before

their term naturally ends. This contrasts with many

other democracies where leaders are usually removed

only through elections or significant scandals.

The right-wing tabloid media in the UK,

especially The Sun, Daily Mail, and Telegraph, have

a significant influence on political narratives and

frequently serve as executioners for Conservative

politicians. Before the formal Brexit, to give the

public an imagined sensation of empowerment over a

perceived threat to the British nation and its popular

sovereignty, a significant portion of the tabloid press

framed the Brexit decision (Zapettini, 2021). On top

of that, opinion polls have shown the Conservatives

lagging behind Labor by double digits since 2021,

which has left Conservative MPs in a constant state

of worry. As the party looks for a "reset" to prevent

electoral destruction, this has resulted in a rotating

door of leaders.

A contradiction has been produced by the media-

political ecosystem in the UK: although it is simpler

to change leaders than in presidential systems, short-

ICPLSS 2025 - International Conference on Politics, Law, and Social Science

term panic rather than democratic mandates is

increasingly driving these moves. Because leaders are

removed before their programs have had a chance to

be thoroughly assessed, the Conservative Party's

reliance on tabloid support and poll-driven survival

strategies runs the risk of weakening long-term

governance.

5 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS:

STABILITY IN GERMANY

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel served as

Chancellor of Germany from November 2005 to

December 2021 after she was elected in 2000 as head

of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

party. In contrast to the UK's tumultuous political

scene, this German woman has been re-elected four

times as chancellor and has been in power for as many

as 16 years, a record since the reunification of East

and West Germany. Merkel's capacity to remain in

power for an extended period is extremely uncommon

in Western democracies, where party turnover has

become the norm. This further demonstrates that, as a

female head of state, she possesses a significant level

of political literacy and personal strength. This

chapter concentrates on the late stage (2016–2021) of

Merkel's rule in Germany in comparison to the UK to

provide a more equitable comparison.

5.1 Difference in Political System

Three grand coalition administrations were in place

during Merkel's four sessions as federal chancellor of

Germany. Additionally, Germany has established a

comparatively developed pattern of cooperation after

eight grand coalition governments in its post-war

history. The grand coalition government in the

Merkel era has therefore been more stable, and its

effective operation has established a strong basis for

the CDU and SPD’s (Social Democratic Party of

Germany) success in their future collaboration.

Although Merkel is the leader of the CDU party, the

party also made significant concessions during the

2018 negotiations to successfully form a cabinet. If

the Social Democrats reject the grand coalition

government, Merkel's only options are to form a

"minority government" or call fresh elections, both of

which could cause a significant political upheaval in

Germany. Zheng Chunrong, director of Tongji

University's Center for German Studies, told Xinhua

News Agency that while Merkel and her CDU did not

entirely abandon their core stance, the ruling allies

made more compromises to successfully form a

cabinet and avoid re-election. Even though the loss of

CDU was not small, the two sides were able to hold

back and reach a mutual compromise that, to some

extent, strengthened the stability of the coalition

government. In the end, the Social Democrats were

awarded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry

of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, and six other

important ministerial positions. Furthermore,

Germany's federal system and more decentralized

governmental power help to mitigate the disputes that

result from central decision-making.

For the UK, as previously stated, the UK's FPTP

electoral system typically results in a single-party

majority government; however, since 2016, the

Conservative Party has been embroiled in internal

strife. On the issue of Brexit, the Conservative Party

is deeply divided: there were those who supported

Brexit and those who opposed it; there were both soft

Brexiteers and hard Brexiteers.

5.2 Economic Perspective

The stability of the German political landscape cannot

be separated from the inclusion of economic

elements, as Germany has maintained the largest

economy in Europe during Merkel’s tenure. The first

factor is that the labor market has benefited greatly

from the institutional legacy of the "Hartz Reform"

(2003-2005), which has increased women's labor

force participation and decreased Germany's

unemployment rate from 11.2 percent in 2005 to 3.2

percent in 2019. This change enhanced labor market

flexibility and encouraged low-wage employment. In

addition to increasing employment and reviving the

labor force, this also set the stage for promoting

market dynamics and economic expansion. One of

the main factors contributing to the Merkel

government's lengthy rule was the strength of its

economic policies. During this time, stability, fiscal

restraint, and sustainability were the main focuses of

German economic policy. Germany's economy

continues to prosper between 2016 and 2021 because

of its robust industrial foundation, export-focused

economy, and effective social market economic

system. Despite the globalization trend, Germany has

managed to stay somewhat competitive, particularly

in high-tech industries like engineering, mechanical,

and automotive. Additionally, Germany maintained

its "black-zero" policy—that is, zero tolerance for

fiscal deficits—during this time. By closely

regulating public spending and taxation, the German

government aimed to preserve a balanced national

budget and guarantee long-term economic stability.

Frequent Changes in the UK Prime Minister from 2016 to 2022: The Political Economy Perspective

Germany is now a foundation of the eurozone

economy and has gained international trust because

of its conservative economic strategy. Furthermore,

Germany's unemployment rate stayed consistently

low during this time, and the country's social

assistance system protected the people's fundamental

level of living, preventing social unrest from getting

worse.

On the other hand, the UK encountered more

intricate economic difficulties throughout that time.

The referendum on the UK's exit from the European

Union was conducted in 2016, and several economic

issues, including slower economic development,

fewer company investments, and pound devaluation,

resulted from this decision. The UK government's

economic policy is also in disarray because of the

Brexit process's delays and repetitions. The UK's

economic strategy is less stable and coherent over the

long run than Germany's, which makes it less

competitive in the global market.

5.3 Social Policy Perspective

As for social policy, the Merkel Administration

prioritizes social stability, social welfare, and

inclusivity. Germany has offered workers

comparatively comprehensive medical care,

pensions, and unemployment insurance through a

rigorous social security system. In addition to

fostering long-term social stability, these policies

have protected the German people's fundamental

means of subsistence throughout periods of economic

turmoil. At the same time, Merkel has maintained a

very liberal immigration policy, particularly during

the 2015 refugee crisis when Germany took in a

significant number of migrants. Even though this

policy has generated a great deal of controversy

within the nation, it demonstrates Germany's sense of

accountability and inclusivity in the face of

globalization. By implementing this approach,

Germany has not only increased social diversity but

also positioned itself as a responsible large nation

abroad, which has improved and preserved Merkel's

reputation among Germans.

On the other hand, social policy in the UK has

changed significantly since Brexit. Social welfare

programs have been put to the test by the uncertainties

created by the EU referendum and the resulting

economic unrest. In the UK, immigration has also

emerged as a major sociopolitical issue. The post-

Brexit changes in immigration policy have

exacerbated social tensions and polarization. Social

stability in the UK has been impacted by this string of

policy changes and social unrest, which has also

resulted in frequent changes in political leadership.

6 CONCLUSION

According to the analysis, a cycle of political

vulnerability has been created in the UK since 2016

by the interaction of significant economic shocks with

inadequate institutional safeguards, which has

resulted in repeated changes in Prime Minister.

Economic shocks, such as Brexit, the pandemic, or

inflation, initially undermine leaders' authority,

compelling them to implement policy responses.

However, ill-conceived or rushed measures, like

austerity budgets or unfunded tax cuts, often

exacerbate the crises, triggering market turmoil or

worsening living standards. This sparks fierce

backlash from both party factions and the public,

ultimately forcing the leader's resignation. Incoming

successors then inherit even more severe unresolved

problems with diminished policy flexibility, creating

a vicious cycle of process from crisis to leadership

change. This chain reaction demonstrates how short-

term policy pressures, institutional features like no-

confidence mechanisms, and structural economic

weaknesses such as stagnant growth have collectively

driven the UK's frequent leadership turnovers in

recent years—where each new Prime Minister faces

progressively more constrained options to break the

cycle of instability.

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