National insurance increase will be reversed from 6 November, says Kwasi Kwarteng – as it happened

Kwasi Kwarteng. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

5.31pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, has announced that the national insurance increase introduced earlier this year will be reversed from 6 November. (See 2.46pm.)

• Britain’s economy is now in recession, the Bank of England has said, as it raised interest rates to tackle the worst bout of inflation for 40 years.

• Ministers are setting up a £500m emergency fund to get thousands of medically fit patients out of hospital as soon as possible in an attempt to prevent the NHS becoming overwhelmed this winter.

• Liz Truss is considering designating fracking sites as nationally important infrastructure, potentially cutting out local communities and breaking a leadership election promise, the Guardian can reveal.

• Britain’s poorest households risk spending almost half of their disposable income on gas and electricity bills this winter despite the government’s energy price guarantee, according to a report.

5.31pm BST

Nick Macpherson, a former permanent secretary at the Treasury, says the UK is already paying a price in higher borrowing costs for the fact that the Treasury, which decides fiscal policy, and the Bank of England, which decides monetary policy, are at odds with each other.

Historically, the role of UK fiscal policy was to support monetary policy. Now it is to oppose monetary policy. Perhaps, that explains why the long term cost of borrowing has risen 94 basis points in just one month compared to 43 bp in the US. We are already paying the price.

— Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) September 22, 2022