Live news: Sunak emerges as bookmakers’ favourite to replace Truss

EU leaders have called for stability in the UK after Liz Truss resigned as prime minister as they were beginning a summit in Brussels.

“In the context of the war, the energy crisis, it is important for the UK to find political stability as soon as possible,” said President Emmanuel Macron of France. “That would be good for us and for Europe.”

He said his working relationship with the prime minister, in office for barely six weeks, had just begun.

“We had several phone calls and meetings that were always very constructive, even a few days ago, in Prague,” Macron said. “The French nation, as a friend of the British people, wishes stability above everything else.”

Irish prime minister Michael Martin said: “On a personal level I sympathise with her. It has been a very difficult time for the British prime minister given all that has happened.

“Stability is very important and we would like to see the UK system within its capacity be in a position to have a successor selected as quickly as possible and that stability will be brought to the situation given the fairly significant geopolitical issues facing Europe.”

Truss had overseen a thaw in relations strained by Boris Johnson’s failure to implement the Brexit deal he signed.

She reopened negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which the UK wants to change to reduce checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister, said he hoped the talks would continue. “We were making progress on Northern Ireland.”