Closing summary
Our politics blog is now closed. Here is what you might have missed today:
Simon Clarke, the levelling up minister, and a key Liz Truss ally, has told the Times that the market chaos that followed the government’s tax cutting mini-budget would pass and warned that Britain should prepare for a new age of austerity. He also said the prime minister was “enjoying having the chance” to enact policies that “she believes is right”. Despite the turmoil in financial markets, Clarke said that Truss was “astonishingly resilient” and urged the government to channel the spirit of Margaret Thatcher to push ahead with their vision.
Liz Truss has used a Saturday newspaper column to defend the government’s course of action. In the face of fierce criticism, including a stinging rebuke from the IMF, Liz Truss has admitted that the mini-budget delivered by her government last week did cause “disruption”, after it was followed by a series of economic shocks, including the pound falling to an all-time low against the dollar. Writing in the Sun, she said: “For too long we have been stuck debating how to divide up the economic pie, rather than grow the pie so everyone has a bigger slice. The status quo is not working. For too long we have been held back by low growth and high taxes. We need to get things done in this country more quickly. So I am going to do things differently. It involves difficult decisions and does involve disruption in the short term.”
The UK devolved governments have called for an urgent meeting with Kwasi Kwarteng and urged him to “reverse the damage” caused by his tax-cutting mini-budget. The joint letter from the finance ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, warns that the chancellor has taken a “huge gamble” on the health of the economy. It adds that the UK was already facing “severe economic upheaval” and that the government has made matters worse by announcing tax cuts “for the most wealthy”, without saying how they would be paid for.
Dual protests were taking place in London today as actions by climate activists and cost of living campaigners collide. An Extinction Rebellion samba band played at King’s Cross station on Saturday morning, as RMT and CWU union protesters gathered for Enough Is Enough, the trade union-backed cost of living campaign. Just Stop Oil and a coalition of allied groups called for supporters to meet at 25 London locations for a march to “occupy Westminster”.
As part of those protests thousands of supporters of Just Stop Oil blocked four bridges across the Thames. Protesters blocked Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall bridge with sit-down protests after marching from 25 points around the centre of London. Just Stop Oil’s activists said protesters would converge on Westminster, where a crowd led by a samba band had already gathered in Parliament Square. Hundreds had earlier sat on Westminster bridge, blocking traffic, moving after police came to warn them they would be arrested if they stayed.
The Welsh secretary, Sir Robert Buckland, has said the government is “absolutely committed” to fiscal responsibility after the turmoil in financial markets following chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s £45bn mini-budget tax cut. After a week in which the pound slumped to an all-time low against the dollar, Buckland said ministers were committed to increasing the tax yields needed to pay for public services, PA reports.
The Green party has said its call for a wealth tax on the richest 1% in the country is to “make our society more equal”. At the party’s annual conference in Harrogate, co-leader Carla Denyer outlined an emergency £75bn tax package targeting polluters and the country’s wealthiest individuals, PA reports. The money would be used to fund a nationwide insulation and renewable energy programme, the party has said.
The Mirror has apologised after it mistakenly used a picture of the wrong person to illustrate a story about the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, on its website. Condemning the “terrible error”, which occurred on the first day of Black History Month, the publication said: “This morning a picture in a story about Kwasi Kwarteng was wrongly captioned on the Mirror website. This was a terrible error and we apologise to Mr Kwarteng and all our readers.” The apology came after Kwarteng tweeted a screenshot of an online story about the mini-budget, featuring a picture of Bernard Mensah, the president of international for Bank of America.
Kwasi Kwarteng reportedly spent some of Thursday interviewing new candidates to be permanent secretary of the Treasury. The top job is currently empty after the government sacked Tom Scholar in early September. Kwarteng’s decision to remove Scholar prompted criticism at the time due to the senior civil servant’s extensive experience, that was seen by some as vital during a time of economic uncertainty.
Updated
Our environment correspondent Damien Gayle reports from today’s protests in the capital:
Thousands of supporters of Just Stop Oil have blocked four bridges across the Thames.
Protesters blocked Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall bridge with sit-down protests after marching from 25 points around the centre of London.
Just Stop Oil’s activists said protesters would converge on Westminster, where a crowd led by a samba band had already gathered in Parliament Square. Hundreds had earlier sat on Westminster bridge, blocking traffic, moving after police came to warn them they would be arrested if they stayed.
Among those sitting on Westminster bridge was Esme Garlake, 26, from London. “I think we are at a real turning point now where the inequalities in our society are so obvious,” she said. “Today is the day of the energy bills [price rise] coming out and so different groups and grassroots movements are starting to realise that we have to come together to demand social change and climate action.”
Garlake was sat next to her mother, Marilyn Garlake, 59, from Oxford, who said she saw synergies between activism for the climate and cost of living crises. “A tipping point is being reached now,” she said.
“If you look at what’s happening with the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis everything is coming together, and we have a government that is refusing to take the action that’s needed and making the situation worse.”
Updated
