Liz Truss took over as Britain’s prime minister on Tuesday and immediately faced up to the enormous tasks ahead of her: tackling one of the most daunting sets of challenges for an incoming leader in post-War history led by soaring energy bills, looming recession and industrial strife.

Truss quickly began appointing senior members of her Cabinet as she tackles an inbox dominated by the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, shuttering businesses and leaving the nation’s poorest people shivering at home this winter.

Truss – the U.K.’s third female and the fourth Conservative prime minister in six years – named a top team diverse in gender and ethnicity, but loyal to her and her free-market politics.

Kwasi Kwarteng becomes the first black U.K. Treasury chief, and Therese Coffey its first female deputy prime minister. Other appointments include James Cleverly as foreign secretary and Suella Braverman as home secretary, responsible for immigration and law and order.

It was the first time a white man will not hold one of Britain’s four most important ministerial positions

In Kwarteng, Truss has picked an ideological ally, charging him with tackling a cost-of-living crisis with a tax-cutting, big-spending plan that has worried markets.

"I am confident that together we can ride out the storm. We can rebuild our economy, and we can become the modern brilliant Britain that I know we can be," the 47-year-old former foreign secretary said.

Making her debut speech outside her new Downing Street home in a break between torrential downpours, Truss said she would cut taxes to spur economic growth, bolster the state-run National Health Service and "deal hands on" with the energy crisis, though she offered few details about how she would implement those policies. She is expected to unveil her energy plans on Thursday.

British news media reported that Truss plans to cap energy bills. The cost to taxpayers of that step could reach 100 billion pounds ($116 billion), surpassing the COVID-19 furlough scheme.

Truss will set out plans to tackle soaring energy bills this week, Deputy Prime Minister Coffey said Wednesday, but she declined to say who will foot the bill for what is set to be a costly intervention.

"We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face," Truss said in her first speech as prime minister. "As strong as the storm may be, I know the British people are stronger.’’

The new Cabinet will be charged with delivering on Truss’ three stated priorities: tax cuts to boost the economy, help over rising energy costs, and sorting out the National Health Service.

She inherits an economy in crisis, with inflation at double digits and the Bank of England (BoE) warning of a prolonged recession by the end of this year.

Already, workers across the economy have gone on strike.

Truss has promised to scrap plans to increase corporation tax on big firms, and to reverse an increase in a payroll tax on workers and employers, designed to raise additional funding for health and social care, with the extra spending coming from general taxation instead.

"I know that we have what it takes to tackle those challenges. Of course, it won’t be easy, but we can do it," she said.

Truss is under pressure to spell out how she plans to help consumers pay household energy bills that are set to rise to an average of 3,500 pounds ($4,000) a year – triple the cost of a year ago – on Oct. 1 unless she intervenes.

The scale of the energy package, plus the fact the energy crisis could run for a couple of years, has spooked investors. The pound has fared worse against the U.S. dollar than most other major currencies recently.

In August, the sterling shed 4% against the greenback and it marked the worst month for 20-year British government bonds since around 1978, according to records from Refinitiv and the BoE.

Britain’s public finances also remain weighed down by the government’s huge coronavirus spending spree. Public debt as a share of economic output is not far off 100%, up from about 80% before the pandemic.

Rising food and energy prices, driven by the invasion of Ukraine and the aftershocks of COVID-19 and Brexit, have propelled U.K. inflation above 10% for the first time in four decades. The BoE forecasts it will hit 13.3% in October.

Train drivers, port staff, garbage collectors, postal workers and lawyers have all staged strikes to demand that pay increases keep pace with inflation, and millions more, from teachers to nurses, could walk out in the next few months.

In theory, Truss has time to make her mark: She doesn’t have to call a national election until late 2024. But opinion polls already give the main opposition Labour Party a steady lead, and the worse the economy gets, the more pressure will grow.

In addition to Britain’s domestic woes, Truss and her new Cabinet will also face multiple foreign policy crises, including the war in Ukraine and frosty post-Brexit relations with the EU.

Truss, as foreign secretary, was a firm supporter of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia.

Truss has also pledged to increase U.K. defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product from just over 2% – another expensive promise.