Former foreign secretary and leadership contender is back in cabinet, in stunning reversal of fortune
Jeremy Hunt has been appointed as Liz Truss’s new chancellor, in a stunning reversal of political fortune and a sign that the beleaguered prime minister wants to reach out to other sections of the Conservative party.
Hunt, the former foreign secretary and health secretary, has twice tried unsuccessfully to become Conservative leader.
Continue reading...Chancellor does not rule out increasing corporation tax when asked about whether government will perform U-turn
The Home Office has taken the modern slavery brief away from the minister responsible for safeguarding and classed it as an “illegal immigration and asylum” issue, updated online ministerial profiles show.
The move is seen as a clear sign that the department is doubling down on Suella Braverman’s suggestion that people are “gaming” the modern slavery system and that victims of the crime are no longer being prioritised.
The largest single group of modern slavery victims under the referral system last year were British children – including those who were exploited through county lines. The evidence shows the majority of exploitation takes place in the UK rather than across borders.
The government should be treating this as an enforcement and safeguarding issue and taking stronger action against the crime of modern slavery wherever it takes place.
Continue reading...Speculation that reversal on leadership campaign pledge risks split with her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng
Liz Truss has bowed to intense pressure from Conservative MPs and the markets by agreeing to redraw her mini-budget, paving the way for a major U-turn on her signature corporation tax cut.
In another serious blow to her authority as prime minister, government sources told the Guardian that a climbdown on the plan to scrap the rise in corporation tax was now “on the table”.
Continue reading...Reversing key plank of her leadership pitch would be much bigger humiliation for Liz Truss than 45p rate U-turn
The clamour among Conservative MPs for a third U-turn by Liz Truss started the same as the others: one MP begins as an outrider, backed by some party veterans or ex-cabinet ministers, and the question catches alight across broadcasters who ask every MP they see. Soon enough, it is received wisdom.
Most MPs who are squeamish about deposing their third prime minister had hoped that they would see change in the markets and contrition from No 10 and 11 after the U-turn on the 45p rate. Over the course of the past week, it has been clear to them that will not happen.
Continue reading...PM wants to prevent panels on 58% of farmland but business secretary says renewables need to be boosted
Liz Truss is facing a rebellion from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business department over plans to ban solar power from most of England’s farmland.
The prime minister and her environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, want to ban solar from about 41% of the land area of England, or about 58% of agricultural land, the Guardian revealed earlier this week.
Continue reading...Statement from No 10 comes straight after PM told MPs she was ‘absolutely’ committed to avoiding public spending cuts
Sajid Javid, the former Tory chancellor, has been speaking at an event organised by the Legatum Institute thinktank this morning. As Chris Smyth from the Times reports, Javid said the turmoil in the markets was caused by the fact that the tax cuts in the mini-budget went “way beyond” what Liz Truss promised during the leadership campaign, and by the fact that her energy bills bailout was also much bigger than expected.
The government has drawn up a plan to cap the unit cost of gas and electricity for two years. Labour proposed its own plan to freeze energy bills, but it only proposed a commitment for six months.
Continue reading...PM suggests borrowing will rise as she surprises MPs by saying she has no plans to cut public spending
Liz Truss has said the Conservatives will push ahead with tax cuts without cutting public spending, instead allowing borrowing to rise over the next few years.
Senior economists had warned on Wednesday that such a strategy, if set out by Kwasi Kwarteng in the chancellor’s fiscal plan at the end of this month, would be likely to spook investors, creating renewed market turmoil.
Continue reading...Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows impact of increasing benefits in line with earnings, not inflation
At least one in five working-age families in most UK constituencies – including in Liz Truss’s seat – would lose out by hundreds of pounds on average if real-terms benefit cuts go ahead, a study has found.
The scale of the impact of a below-inflation rise on already struggling households and by extension, local shops and businesses, is revealed in a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It would amount to the biggest-ever real terms cut to benefits in a single year.
Continue reading...Prime minister accused of ‘another screeching U-turn’ having previously rejected calls to impose levy
Renewable power companies will have their revenues capped in England and Wales, after the government bowed to pressure to clamp down on runaway profits.
The announcement late on Tuesday night provoked immediate accusations that Downing Street had performed “another screeching U-turn” – having previously rejected calls to impose a windfall tax on power giants.
Continue reading...Restructuring includes departure of Sam White, as party leader seeks to capitalise on slump in Tory support
Keir Starmer has announced a major shake-up of his political team, including the departure of his chief of staff, Sam White, saying Labour was being put on an immediate election footing.
Boosted by turmoil in the Conservative party and a string of hefty leads in opinion polls, Starmer said the party needed to move into the next phase of election readiness.
Continue reading...Veteran official gets permanent secretary role instead of reformer as fiscal plan is brought forward by three weeks
Liz Truss has overruled Kwasi Kwarteng’s top appointment at the Treasury and handed the role to a veteran Treasury official, one of a series of moves designed to calm markets and backbenchers.
It was also announced that the chancellor will set out plans to shore up the public finances three weeks earlier than planned and publish long-awaited forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility at the same time.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tory MPs warn PM she would lose vote on increasing benefits only in line with earnings rather than inflation
Liz Truss is teetering on the edge of performing another big U-turn as Tory MPs warned she would lose a vote on delivering a real-terms cut to benefits while new research showed the move could push an extra 450,000 people into poverty.
Despite desperate pleas for party unity from senior ministers after weeks of bitter infighting, the row over welfare threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s attempt to reassert her authority when the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lib Dems accuse PM of ‘taking taxpayer for a ride’ with expense of 20 overseas trips between January and June this year
Liz Truss racked up a bill of almost £2m on overseas visits during her final months as foreign secretary, according to new analysis that the Liberal Democrats said showed she had “quite literally been taking the taxpayer for a ride”.
In 20 trips during the first six months of the year, a total of £1.8m was spent, despite the now prime minister’s call for prudence with public money and government departments being told to find “efficiency savings”.
Continue reading...The PM and chancellor will try to stop panic spreading through the party after their high-risk economic plan threatens a ‘death spiral’
The prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, will face the wrath of Tory MPs at a succession of crisis meetings in parliament this week as their high-risk economic policies hit their poll ratings and spread panic in all wings of the party.
After a turbulent first five weeks at No 10 and an ill-disciplined, chaotic annual conference in Birmingham last week, Truss is expected to address the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers on Wednesday evening after taking on Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions.
Continue reading...Tory minister, who denies any wrongdoing, reported for incident in hotel bar during party’s conference
The trade minister Conor Burns was sacked from the government and suspended as a Conservative MP after he was seen touching a young man’s thigh in a Tory conference hotel bar, it has been claimed.
According to the BBC on Saturday, an eyewitness said the former minister was seen with the man in the early hours of Tuesday in the Hyatt Regency hotel bar in Birmingham, which was a popular venue for conference attenders. Burns has denied any wrongdoing.
Continue reading...PM’s -47 net rating in Opinium poll worse than Boris Johnson’s at height of Partygate scandal
Liz Truss’s personal ratings are now even worse than those recorded for Boris Johnson at the height of the Partygate scandal, according to another Observer poll which will cause alarm among Tory MPs.
Truss’s personal approval rating of -47 is now the worst ever recorded for a prime minister in an Opinium poll for the Observer. It is a worse rating than that recorded for Johnson during Partygate and Theresa May in the weeks before her resignation.
Continue reading...Former Spice Girl, who attended Tory conference, makes apparent online criticism of Conor Burns
Mel B has made an apparent criticism of sacked Tory minister Conor Burns’s behaviour during a conversation with her at the Conservative party conference.
Burns was asked to step down from his role as a minister of state in the trade department and had the Conservative whip withdrawn pending an investigation into an allegation of “serious misconduct” on Friday, Downing Street said. He later denied having ever met the former Spice Girl singer.
Continue reading...Register of MPs’ interests shows ex-PM accepted gift from Lady Carole Bamford, wife of JCB chairman, Lord Anthony Bamford
Boris Johnson accepted free accommodation worth £10,000 from the wife of the leading Tory donor who hosted his wedding party this summer, it has emerged.
The updated register of MPs’ interests shows that the former prime minister accepted a £10,000 gift from Lady Carole Bamford, for “concessionary use of accommodation for me and my family in September”.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest political coverage here
In his interview with LBC Jake Berry, the Tory chairman, was asked if he was channelling When Harry Met Sally when he described Liz Truss as the “Yes, yes, yes prime minister” in his speech to the conference yesterday. (Robert Hutton is very funny about this, and much else, in his sketch for the Critic.) Berry said he was referring to Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister when he delivered that line.
In the same interview, Berry revealed that his joke-making has not improved since yesterday. Talking about the conference in general, Berry said:
I think colleagues saw yesterday that when the going gets tough, the Truss gets going.
I do think my language was a bit clumsy in that regard and I regret it.
The point I was making ... is that the government needs to go for growth to ensure that it can grow the economy and Britain can get a pay rise. You don’t have to tell me how hard people graft in this economy. I know how hard people work.
We’ve got to wait until those figures are available … You simply cannot make a decision on figures you do not currently have.
Continue reading...New home secretary objects to increasing visas for Indians and critiques predecessor’s attempt to return overstayers
Suella Braverman has again risked upsetting No 10 after saying she has “reservations” about Britain’s trade deal with India because it could increase immigration to the UK.
Liz Truss said she wants to sign a trade agreement with India by Diwali at the end of this month. The Indian government is demanding an increase in work and study visas for Indian nationals and earlier this year Boris Johnson said the agreement would lead to increased immigration.
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