Striking union members should ‘get back to work’, says Liz Truss

PM maintains pledge to bring in measures limiting industrial action but denies planning to rip up EU rules on workers’ rights

Liz Truss has told striking workers to “get back to work” as she doubled down on her pledge to bring in measures to limit industrial action within weeks of coming to power.

The prime minister suggested that a planned wave of strikes by workers ranging from train drivers to barristers, risked holding the country back during the toughest economic climate in a generation.

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‘Not every measure will be popular’: Truss says voters may not like all her pro-growth measures – UK politics live

Latest updates: prime minister says she is willing to implement unpopular policies to try to boost growth in the UK

Rosie Cooper has indicated that she intends to stand down as Labour MP for West Lancashire to take up a new job as chair of the Mersey Care NHS foundation trust. In her statement announcing the move Cooper says that events in recent years have “undoubtedly taken their toll” – a reference to Cooper being targeted by a neo-Nazi who was jailed for life in 2019 for plotting to kill her.

Cooper’s statement implies she will resign and trigger a byelection. At the last election she had a majority of more than 8,000 over the Conservatives, and in a byelection Labour would be expected to hold the seat very easily.

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Kwasi Kwarteng urged to allow release of OBR forecasts with mini-budget

Tory chair of Treasury committee says independent forecasts vital to provide reassurance to markets

The Tory chair of the Treasury select committee has urged Kwasi Kwarteng to allow independent forecasts for the public finances to be published alongside his mini-budget on Friday.

Mel Stride released a strongly worded statement urging more clarity around the effects of the new chancellor’s fiscal interventions.

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Teachers at ex-Tory minister’s academy chain set to strike

Staff at Future Academies claim they are being overworked and children have been left demoralised

Teachers at an academy chain founded by the former Conservative schools minister John Nash and his wife are preparing to go on strike, claiming the trust is “blighting the life chances of the children”.

The curriculum used by Future Academies, developed by Caroline Nash, a stockbroker, is said in a letter to governors of one the chain’s schools to be among the most narrow in the country.

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Liz Truss under pressure to reveal details of energy crisis plan

Emergency budget of winter tax cuts expected next week once period of national mourning for Queen is over

An emergency budget to bring in winter tax cuts for millions of people and set out more detail on energy handouts is expected late next week once the country emerges from national mourning.

Though politics has been paralysed by the death of the Queen, Liz Truss is under pressure from Tory MPs to set out her plans potentially on Thursday or Friday next week, before the Commons breaks up for party conferences.

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Revealed: Suella Braverman sets Home Office ‘No boats crossing the Channel’ target

UK’s new home secretary upsets civil servants with speech on migrants, trashy TV and back-to-office call

The new home secretary has already prompted consternation among Home Office officials after telling them she wants to ban all small boats crossing the Channel, the Observer has learned.

During her inaugural address to departmental staff last Wednesday, Suella Braverman said a top priority would be stopping all Channel crossings. She has also asked all staff to watch “trashy TV” to help their “mental wellbeing”, a source said, specifically citing Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and First Dates as well as Love Island.

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Tory MP begins ‘net zero tour’ of UK to highlight benefits of action

Chris Skidmore urges new PM to ignore ‘tiny vocal minority in Westminster’ arguing against climate target

Top green Conservative Chris Skidmore is to embark on a net zero tour to show that “normal people are getting on with” decarbonisation, and urge the new prime minister to ignore the “Westminster bubble” that is pouring scorn on the climate target.

Skidmore, a former energy minister, will on Thursday visit green schemes across north-west England, including a home insulation demonstration in Salford and a peat restoration project in Oldham.

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Liz Truss set to announce £130bn energy bill bailout

New PM expected to promise ‘immediate action to help people and businesses’ and end to fracking ban

Liz Truss will finally present her long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills on Thursday, with some Tory MPs conceding this is already a make or break moment for her entire premiership.

The new prime minister is expected to announce to MPs that bills will be frozen at about £2,500 a year until 2024 as part of a package of support costing up to £130bn, funded by the taxpayer, as she tries to address the most significant economic crisis in a generation.

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Liz Truss cabinet: who are the other key players in PM’s top team?

The prime minister has appointed ministers for the great offices of state. Here are some of the other members of her new government

Liz Truss has started to assemble her government, with the top posts going to Kwasi Kwarteng (the chancellor), Suella Braverman (home secretary), James Cleverly (foreign secretary) and Thérèse Coffey (health). Here are some of the other members of the new cabinet.

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Thérèse Coffey defends Truss against ‘cabinet of chums’ charge

Deputy PM says newly appointed ministers will show ‘they’ve been considered, they’ve been competent’

The new health secretary and deputy prime minister, Thérèse Coffey, has defended Liz Truss from criticism that she has appointed a “cabinet of chums”.

The new prime minister is accused of making appointments to reward longstanding friendship and loyalty in the leadership contest, rather than competence.

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‘New PM, old problems’: Europe’s media reacts to Liz Truss’s first speech as prime minister

Spain’s El País greets new PM saying ‘lack of charisma can be a political advantage in times of uncertainty’

Liz Truss’s purported lack of charisma and the “disastrous” economic situation facing Britain is the focus for much of the European media following the appointment of the country’s new prime minister.

The apparent differences in style between Boris Johnson and his successor was picked up by newspapers and websites across the political spectrum but the conclusions on Truss’s first speech in office were generally generous.

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Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’

Russian president alludes to fact prime minister was chosen by party members, not by whole country

Vladimir Putin has said the way Britain chooses its leaders is “far from democratic”, a day after Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.

In his first public comments on Truss’s appointment, the Russian president alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of the Conservative party, not by the whole country.

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New prime minister Liz Truss returning to Westminster to appoint cabinet after meeting with Queen – UK politics live

Latest updates: Liz Truss invited to form a new government after being confirmed as prime minister following Balmoral meeting

Johnson says it is the Conservatives who understand “the vital symmetry between government action and free market capitalist private sector enterprise”.

He is now rattling through a list of what he sees as his achievements in government: more police, new hospitals, more nurses. He even repeats the (false) claim that the government is on course to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade.

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‘Straight to business’: what the papers said about Liz Truss’s victory

The new Conservative leader comes in at a time of crisis, and Tuesday’s papers make it clear she will need to make a fast start

The Liz Truss supremacy has begun with promises of bold plans to tackle a “bulging in-tray” of problems such as the cost of living crisis, according to the front pages of many of Tuesday’s newspapers.

With the usual speech and visuals from the steps of No 10 delayed by 24 hours thanks to the Queen’s “episodic mobility issues”, the papers had to make do with Truss smiling broadly after she defeated Rishi Sunak to take the Tory crown and later become Britain’s fourth prime minister in six years.

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Kremlin scathing over Truss but Kyiv praises Britain’s new PM

Putin aide says relations could go ‘from bad to worse’ as Ukrainian pundits welcome new ‘iron lady’

Liz Truss’s imminent arrival in Downing Street as British prime minister has been greeted with scorn and scarcely veiled condescension from the Kremlin, but an outpouring of praise in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, expressed concerns that relations might deteriorate in comments to reporters shortly before Truss was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership race.

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Nadine Dorries joins Patel in quitting cabinet after Truss named next PM

Culture secretary offered chance to stay in role but reportedly said, ‘Now is the right time to leave cabinet’

Nadine Dorries has joined Priti Patel in quitting the cabinet hours after Liz Truss won the Conservative leadership contest.

The culture secretary was offered the chance to stay in the role, according to the Mail Plus, who first reported the story. The website quoted a friend as saying: “[Dorries] has decided now is the right time to leave cabinet.”

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Tory leadership: Nadine Dorries steps down and returns to backbenches – as it happened

Latest updates: culture secretary will not serve in Truss’s cabinet and is expected to receive peerage from Boris Johnson

Philip Hammond, who was chancellor when Theresa May was prime minister, has joined Rupert Harrison, another Tory Treasury alumnus (see 10.02am), in criticising the Truss camp this morning for disparaging Treasury orthodoxy. Hammond told Times Radio:

When I hear people talking about Treasury orthodoxy, I do worry that what they might sometimes be talking about are economic facts of life. And yes, the Treasury will ensure that politicians, however senior, are confronted with the realities of the economic facts of life. “Yes, Minister, you may wish to do this. But you need to understand that the consequences will be as follows.” And we can’t legislate to change the laws of economics, unfortunately. And I think Liz Truss understands that very well.

Obviously, I worked very closely with her. She was chief secretary to the Treasury when I was chancellor, she understands the laws of economics as well as anybody does. And it’s essential that the political solutions that a government crafts, go with the grain of the laws of economics, because if you try and confront the laws of economics, you will come unstuck.

I think it is right and unavoidable that the government needs to provide support to people dealing with these huge energy bills as a short term solution, but we have to be clear, and I think [Truss] will be clear, that this can only be government support to deal with the immediate emergency energy prices being sky high, largely because of the war in Ukraine.

At the same time we’ve got to be honest about the fact that energy bills in the future are going to be higher than they were, traditionally, as we move to ensure energy self sufficiency, and to decarbonise our economies. That has always been the case; decarbonisation doesn’t come free.

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Liz Truss shows little sign she is ready to meet big environmental challenges

The new PM has not set out plans for reducing energy waste; instead she has talked of more oil and gas

Liz Truss faces a daunting array of environmental crises, from energy supply to sewage spills on British beaches, with little to show that she has the inclination to take them on.

Ben Goldsmith, the chair of the Conservative Environment Network, and a longtime green Tory who was a strong supporter of Boris Johnson, said of the UK’s new prime minister and her defeated rival: “Neither Truss nor Sunak has been known for their passion for nature. Neither has made a name for themselves as an environmental leader.”

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Liz Truss wins Tory leadership race to become Britain’s next PM

Foreign secretary defeats Rishi Sunak, winning 57.4% of Tory members’ votes to former chancellor’s 42.6%

Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister after beating Rishi Sunak in the bitterly fought Conservative leadership contest.

The foreign secretary, who won 81,326 votes (57.4%) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6%), takes over from Boris Johnson, who was ousted by his own MPs earlier this summer.

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UK ministers ignored evidence Rwanda violated human rights, court told

African country went back on list of destinations for ‘migration partnership’ after civil servants had ruled it out, judges hear

The UK’s plan to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda has been challenged in the high court, with claims that ministers deliberately ignored evidence that the east African country had violated human rights, including the right to live free from torture.

Rwanda was put back on to a list of potential destinations for a “migration partnership” after previously being ruled out by civil servants, the court was told.

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