Summary
That’s all from us today Here’s today’s main developments and news.
Following a meeting with the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed it will deliver an initial forecast on 7 October. A spokesperson for the OBR said: “[The forecast] will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies.” The announcement comes after a 48-minute emergency meeting at 11 Downing Street this morning.
The Treasury said that Truss, Kwarteng and the OBR discussed the “economic and fiscal outlook” as well as the process for growth forecasts. However, they said the forecast – which they will receive on 7 October – won’t be published until 23 November. The government also said it “values” the OBR’s scrutiny.
A Treasury minister has contradicted the UK’s independent watchdog for public finances, saying it would not have been able to produce a forecast in time for the government’s mini-budget. Andrew Griffith, the financial secretary to the Treasury, told broadcasters the growth plan put forward by Truss and Kwarteng contained “a lot of detail” and repeatedly asserted it was “40 pages long”, meaning it would have been impossible for the OBR to have produced an accurate forecast in time.
The prime minister will be on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend as the Conservative party conference begins, PA Media reported. Truss will be interviewed on the weekend politics programme, which begins at 8.30am. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will also appear on the show.
Half of the public now believe it is likely Keir Starmer will become prime minister, according to polls, reports PA Media. A poll of 1,000 adults by Ipsos found 51% think Starmer will enter No 10, up from 38% surveyed in May. More than one-third of voters (35%) said it was unlikely Starmer would become prime minister, a decrease from 50% in January.
More polls have given the Labour party strong leads over the Conservatives. One, by BMG for the i newspaper, gave them a 17-point lead, on 47% to the Tories 30%. Meanwhile smaller firm Omnisis gave them a 33-point lead, as they had 55% against the governing party’s 23%.
Liz Truss is preparing to push ahead with an unlimited number of “investment zones”. The policy is despite a row within the government that it could hand an uncosted blank cheque of tax breaks to businesses.
Talks aimed at ending the dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol are set to reopen after a video meeting between the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, on Friday. Šefčovič said he had a “good conversation” with Cleverly during a call on Friday lunchtime.
Liz Truss will deliver the biggest permanent real-terms cut to the basic rate of benefits ever made if she fails to raise them in line with inflation, one of the UK’s leading poverty charities has said.
Truss has previously suggested universal benefits, such as the state pension, should be scrapped because of the “huge expense” to taxpayers of “recycling” their money through the system – prompting fears she could go further still with her plans to cut back the benefits bill. The proposal, included in her motion to the Liberal Democrat Youth conference in spring 1995, highlighted the “enormous – and rising – cost of pensions and child benefit”, calling for a “search for realistic alternatives to universal benefits”.
The Greens have kicked off their conference with a call for taxes on wealth and “dirty profits” to finance the transition to renewable energy – while warning Labour’s plans, unveiled last week, are woefully insufficient. At the gathering in Harrogate, days after a Labour conference based heavily on clean power initiatives, the Green party in England and Wales – the Scottish Greens are separate – repeatedly stressed policy differences over not just renewables but areas such as support for strikers and public ownership.
Thanks for following along today.
Another stonking polling lead for the Labour party, as research by BMG for the i newspaper has given them a 17-point edge over the Conservatives.
Nearly half of the voters who backed the Tories in the 2019 general election say they will no longer vote for the party, the polling shows. Just one-in-five support the “mini-budget” from last week which since saw the UK tumbling in the currency and stock markets.
The 17-point lead puts Labour on 47%, ahead of the Conservatives on 30%. The Liberal Democrats are on 9%, the Greens on 5% and Reform UK on 3%.
It would give Labour “a 1997-esque landslide majority” at the next general election, according to BMG’s Robert Struthers.
BMG uses a different polling model to other firms that have given larger leads. Their method aims to account for disaffected voters who say they will abstain but are likely to return to the party they previously backed when polling day comes around.
Following Thursday night’s YouGov poll which gave Labour a 33 point lead over the Conservatives, the polling firm Omnisis has given Keir Starmer’s party a 32 point lead.
It puts them on 55%, ahead of the Tories on 23%. The fieldwork was carried out on Thursday and Friday, with the governing Tories falling by 9% since results from Omnisis’ surveys between September 23 to 26.
While a far smaller polling company than YouGov, it gives a similar scale lead for Labour, putting them at levels not seen since 1998. Another by Survation had given the opposition party a 21 point lead.
As expected and in line with some of the other polling companies, the final VI poll figures put Labour with a *32pt* lead over the Tories. (Fieldwork 29-30 Sep)
— Omnisis (@Omnisis) September 30, 2022
Con: 23% (-9 from 23-26 Sep)
Lab: 55% (+11)
Lib Dem: 7% (-3)
Green: 5% (0)
Reform UK: 3% (-1)
SNP: 5% (+1)#polling
My colleagues Rowena Mason, Jessica Elgot and Aubrey Allegretti have this exclusive on how the prime minister will continue with her policy of “investment zones” despite a row about tax breaks.
Liz Truss is preparing to push ahead with an unlimited number of “investment zones” despite a row within the government that it could hand an uncosted blank cheque of tax breaks to businesses.
The Treasury is believed to have raised concerns about “carpet bombing the entire country” with investment zones, with the government about to announce an appeal for areas to apply within days – as the Conservatives prepare for their annual conference in Birmingham.
However, Whitehall officials, including in the Treasury, are extremely concerned about the potential liability of not capping the number of areas allowed to get favourable tax and planning treatment. There is also concern that some of the tax breaks under consideration will last for 10 years.
Summary
Here is a round-up of today’s stories from Westminster:
Following a meeting with the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed it will deliver an initial forecast on 7 October. A spokesperson for the OBR said: “[The forecast] will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies.” The announcement comes after a 48-minute emergency meeting at 11 Downing Street this morning.
The Treasury said that Truss, Kwarteng and the OBR discussed the “economic and fiscal outlook” as well as the process for growth forecasts. However, they said the forecast – which they will receive on 7 October – won’t be published until 23 November. The government also said it “values” the OBR’s scrutiny.
A Treasury minister has contradicted the UK’s independent watchdog for public finances, saying it would not have been able to produce a forecast in time for the government’s mini-budget. Andrew Griffith, the financial secretary to the Treasury, told broadcasters the growth plan put forward by Truss and Kwarteng contained “a lot of detail” and repeatedly asserted it was “40 pages long”, meaning it would have been impossible for the OBR to have produced an accurate forecast in time.
The prime minister will be on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend as the Conservative party conference begins, PA Media reported. Truss will be interviewed on the weekend politics programme, which begins at 8.30am. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will also appear on the show.
Half of the public now believe it is likely Keir Starmer will become prime minister, according to polls, reports PA Media. A poll of 1,000 adults by Ipsos found 51% think Starmer will enter No 10, up from 38% surveyed in May. More than one-third of voters (35%) said it was unlikely Starmer would become prime minister, a decrease from 50% in January.
Talks aimed at ending the dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol are set to reopen after a video meeting between the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, on Friday. Šefčovič said he had a “good conversation” with Cleverly during a call on Friday lunchtime.
Truss has previously suggested universal benefits, such as the state pension, should be scrapped because of the “huge expense” to taxpayers of “recycling” their money through the system – prompting fears she could go further still with her plans to cut back the benefits bill. The proposal, included in her motion to the Liberal Democrat Youth conference in spring 1995, highlighted the “enormous – and rising – cost of pensions and child benefit”, calling for a “search for realistic alternatives to universal benefits”.
The Greens have kicked off their conference with a call for taxes on wealth and “dirty profits” to finance the transition to renewable energy – while warning Labour’s plans, unveiled last week, are woefully insufficient. At the gathering in Harrogate, days after a Labour conference based heavily on clean power initiatives, the Green party in England and Wales – the Scottish Greens are separate – repeatedly stressed policy differences over not just renewables but areas such as support for strikers and public ownership.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Harry Taylor will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest UK political news.
Updated
The Greens have kicked off their conference with a call for taxes on wealth and “dirty profits” to finance the transition to renewable energy – while warning Labour’s plans, unveiled last week, are woefully insufficient.
At the gathering in Harrogate, days after a Labour conference based heavily on clean power initiatives, the Green party in England and Wales – the Scottish Greens are separate – repeatedly stressed policy differences over not just renewables but areas such as support for strikers and public ownership.
The party’s co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, pledged in a joint speech to introduce an emergency tax package that would fund renewable energy and a mass scheme for domestic insulation.
The pair were elected on a promise to focus less on links with activists, such as Extinction Rebellion, and more on pushing for greater electoral success, overseeing significant gains in May’s local elections.
Introduced as “the country’s next Green MPs” – both are standing in target seats, Denyer in Bristol and Ramsay in Suffolk – they condemned the impact of Truss’s government, calling it “nothing short of dangerous”.
Their tax scheme, Denyer said, would target the richest 1% of households based on their wealth rather than income, while the dirty profits tax would be aimed at the biggest polluters.
Updated
Talks aimed at ending the dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol are set to reopen after a video meeting between the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, on Friday.
Sefcovic said he had a “good conversation” with Cleverly during a call on Friday lunchtime.
Good conversation w/ @JamesCleverly on Protocol on IE/NI.
— Maroš Šefčovič🇪🇺 (@MarosSefcovic) September 30, 2022
Both sides agree to look for solutions around the Protocol, to bring predictability & certainty to people in Northern Ireland. The 🇪🇺 is committed to joint efforts.
Teams will meet soon. James & I will stay in contact. pic.twitter.com/F4orAvSi8Z
Political level talks were put on hold in February, just weeks after Truss became foreign secretary, because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Today’s call follows weeks of intense diplomatic efforts to reset relations on the back of the arrival of Truss in Downing Street.
Hopes that talks would reopen were raised after a meeting between Truss and Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, the day before the Queen’s funeral.
Updated
The UK is beginning to look jinxed to some foreign observers as they review the wreckage of last week’s “mini budget”.
A headline in Spain’s El Español reads: “21 days with Liz Truss: the pound falls, the Queen dies and the UK has been weakened more than ever since Brexit.”
In hindsight, the newspaper reckons that Boris Johnson’s parting shot of “Hasta la vista, baby” now sounds like a “curse”. It says Truss’s first three weeks in office “could not have been more catastrophic”.
The German tabloid Bild is also struck by Britain’s series of calamities. It says: “First Boris Johnson falls, then the Queen dies – and now the British financial system is also shaking.”
It notes: “The turbulence on the foreign exchange markets is causing even the most die-hard traders to lose sleep.”
It gleefully adds: “The Brexit British currently have a nasty money problem.”
And it is not just the German press revelling in some post-Brexit schadenfreude.
Updated
One of Liz Truss’s ministers has said “anyone paying attention” to the Tory leadership election would have known she planned to cut taxes.
The scrapping of the top rate of tax and the cutting of basic rate to 19p in the pound spooked the financial markets, sending the pound to its lowest level against the dollar.
Sterling rebounded to $1.12 on Friday morning – shy of the $1.13 seen before the announcement. The Scotland secretary, Alister Jack, said the announcement of tax cuts should not have come as a shock, PA Media reports.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland today, Jack said:
When you say ‘huge shock’, over the summer [Truss] was very clear that her strategy was to reduce taxes.
She and Rishi Sunak argued that out over the summer – he said one thing, she said the other – but it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone when she said she believed the strategy was to be more of an Asian tiger economy, where you keep your higher spending but you grow your economy, and she said to do that she would be cutting taxes.
To anyone paying any attention to that leadership contest it was plain as day what was going to happen.
Updated
The new chancellor has been caught up in international controversy after announcing sweeping tax cuts in a mini-budget which resulted in a plunge in the pound, soaring mortgage rates and a £65bn intervention by the Bank of England to bail out pension funds.
We look back at the week of market turmoil:
The City watchdog is asking banks how they plan to step in and support struggling mortgage borrowers, as lenders such as Virgin Money relaunch home loans at higher rates following a spate of withdrawals sparked by this week’s market meltdown.
Supervisors at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have been holding talks with lenders to understand how their mortgage customers are faring and the kind of options that are on the table that would give struggling homeowners some breathing space.
Brokers estimate that about 1.9 million mortgage borrowers are due to come out of fixed-rate deals next year, raising fears that homeowners could struggle to afford higher monthly payments on new loans.
Read more here:
Half of the public now believe it is likely Keir Starmer will become prime minister, according to polls, reports PA news.
A poll of 1,000 adults by Ipsos found 51% think Starmer will enter No 10, up from 38% surveyed in May.
More than one-third of voters (35%) said it was unlikely Starmer would become prime minister, a decrease from 50% in January.
Half of those polled on September 28-29 said they thought Liz Truss was doing a bad job as prime minister, with 18% saying she was doing a good job.
When asked about Conservative alternatives for the top job, 35% said the defeated leadership candidate Rishi Sunak would do a better job at leading the government than Truss, with 39% saying it would make no difference.
Updated
Our political correspondent Peter Walker is at the Greens’ conference in Harrogate.
Party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay have taken the stage, with Denyer saying there is panic in the UK due to a crisis caused “so the Tories can give a tax cut to their mates”.
She added that the government seemed committed to creating more inequality.
Fairly flashy backdrop to the main speech of the Greens’ conference, by co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay. Denyer begins by saying there is “panic” in the UK due to a crisis caused “so the Tories can give a tax cut to their mates”. pic.twitter.com/MLkzb1ztwz
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) September 30, 2022
Updated
It’s been a week since the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, delivered his “fiscal event”, heralding “a new approach for a new era” that left the Daily Mail cooing: “At last! A true Tory budget.”
The impact of which has been devastating, with even the rightwing Economist saying the government’s reckless incompetence may have already damaged it “beyond repair”. Here we look at the key figures that defined one of the worst probation periods in history.
£65bn
The Bank of England triggered an emergency £65bn bond-buying programme on Wednesday to stem the crisis triggered by Liz Truss and Kwarteng’s growth plan, which put entire pension funds at risk of insolvency.
10.6%
The British Retail Consortium revealed food price inflation surged again to 10.6%, compared with an already staggering 9.3% last month.
232
The FTSE 100 has fallen by about 232 points since last Friday as jittery investors took flight.
Read more on Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget in numbers here:
Updated
Just over a week ago, this year’s Conservative party conference might have been viewed by Liz Truss as an ideal platform to showcase her vision for Britain after a month in her role as prime minister.
Now – with markets in turmoil and the pound having fallen to record lows after the government’s mini-budget – the Tory faithful will gather at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre from Sunday to Wednesday in very different circumstances.
Here is a cheat sheet from my colleague Ben Quinn, with all you need to know going into next week.
EU energy ministers have agreed to levy windfall taxes on energy companies’ profits, and to cut electricity use, but remain at loggerheads over proposals to cap the price of gas.
Meeting in Brussels on Friday, the bloc’s 27 energy ministers signed off on proposals to levy a “solidarity contribution” on fossil fuel producers that have benefited from soaring energy prices.
Revenues of renewable energy and nuclear power companies will be capped in response to the “unexpectedly large financial gains” made in recent months, as a result of their profits being linked to the price of expensive gas and coal, according to an EU statement.
The measures, which together could raise €140bn (£123bn) to help lower consumer bills and fund the switch to green energy across the EU, contrast with the British government’s approach. Liz Truss, the UK prime minister, has ruled out extending the £5bn energy tax introduced by the former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Truss to appear on Laura Kuenssberg's BBC show on Sunday
The prime minister will be on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend as the Conservative party conference begins, PA Media reported.
Liz Truss will be interviewed on the weekend politics programme, which begins at 8.30am.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will also appear on the show.
Updated
The Treasury has restated the full independent analysis by the OBR will be published on 23 November.
In a tweet, the Treasury said the prime minister and chancellor used their meeting with the OBR to reaffirm “their commitment to the OBR’s independence and made clear that they value its scrutiny”.
“The full economic & fiscal forecast will be published November 23,” the department said.
Prime Minister @trussliz and Chancellor @KwasiKwarteng met the @OBR_UK's budget responsibility committee today.
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) September 30, 2022
They reaffirmed their commitment to the OBR's independence & made clear that they value its scrutiny.
The full economic & fiscal forecast will be published 23 Nov. pic.twitter.com/bJDHsXhy5h
Updated
The Liberal Democrats have accused ministers of “allowing the economy to fly blind for two months”, PA Media reported.
Responding to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s meeting with the OBR, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said:
Delaying this forecast means shutting the door long after the horse has bolted.
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are allowing the economy to fly blind for two months while their reckless plans cause pension and mortgage misery for millions of British people.
He added:
Families and businesses can’t afford to wait any longer for this government to fix their botched, unfair budget.
Truss and Kwarteng must cancel the Conservative conference, recall parliament and propose a new budget now, before any more people lose their homes or close their business.
Updated
Treasury will not publish OBR forecast delivered to them on 7 October until 23 November
The Treasury said that Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng and the OBR discussed the “economic and fiscal outlook” as well as the process for growth forecasts.
However, they said the forecast – which they will receive on 7 October – won’t be published until 23 November. The government also said it “values” the OBR’s scrutiny.
The official readout from the Treasury said:
This morning the prime minister, Liz Truss, and chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, met with the OBR’s budget responsibility committee, including the chair, Richard Hughes, at No 10 Downing Street.
They discussed the process for the upcoming economic and fiscal forecast, which will be published on 23 November, and the economic and fiscal outlook.
They agreed, as is usual, to work closely together throughout the forecast process and beyond.
The prime minister and chancellor reaffirmed their commitment to the independent OBR and made clear that they value its scrutiny.
Updated
OBR to deliver initial forecast to chancellor next week
Following a meeting with the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed it will deliver an initial forecast on 7 October.
A spokesperson for the OBR said:
[The forecast] will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies.
The announcement comes after a 48-minute emergency meeting at 11 Downing Street this morning.
They added:
We discussed the economic and fiscal outlook, and the forecast we are preparing for the chancellor’s medium-term fiscal plan.
We will deliver the first iteration of that forecast to the chancellor on Friday 7 October, and will set out the full timetable up to 23 November next week.
Updated
Members of OBR's budget responsibility committee leave Truss meeting after 48 minutes
The three members of the OBR’s budget responsibility committee who met the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, have now left No 11 Downing Street.
PA Media reported that Richard Hughes, Andy King and Prof David Miles left the building at 10.33am – just 48 minutes after they entered.
Make of that what you will.
We will keep you updated as news lines emerge from that meeting.
Updated
Richard Hughes, Andy King and Prof David Miles - members of the OBR’s budget responsibility committee - walked into 11 Downing Street at 9.45am, PA Media has reported.
More on that as we get it.
Updated
Treasury minister claims OBR could not have produced report in time
A Treasury minister has contradicted the UK’s independent watchdog for public finances, saying it would not have been able to produce a forecast in time for the government’s mini-budget.
Andrew Griffith, the financial secretary to the Treasury, told broadcasters the growth plan put forward by the prime minister, Liz Truss, and the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, contained “a lot of detail” and repeatedly asserted it was “40 pages long”, meaning it would have been impossible for the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to have produced an accurate forecast in time.
On Thursday night the OBR confirmed in a letter to an MP that it could have produced an assessment in time but was not asked to do so by the chancellor.
Truss and Kwarteng’s decision not to engage with the OBR over a £45bn package of tax cuts and £60bn energy support package unveiled last Friday has been widely cited by financial experts as one of the key reasons behind market turmoil this week.
Asked by BBC Breakfast why the OBR was not given the opportunity to make an assessment of the plan, Griffith suggested the level of “detail” in the plan made it impossible for the independent watchdog to assess it before the government published it.
Updated
The former chancellor George Osborne said plans by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to meet the Office for Budget Responsibility on Friday was a “welcome move”.
He tweeted: “In the space of one week we’ve gone from the OBR being dismissed to the PM turning up to its meetings.
“Turns out the credibility of the institution we created 12 years ago to bring honesty to the public finances is more enduring than that of its critics.”
Welcome move by No10 today. In the space of 1 week we’ve gone from the OBR being dismissed to the PM turning up to its meetings. Turns out the credibility of the institution we created 12 years ago to bring honesty to the public finances is more enduring than that of its critics
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) September 30, 2022
Updated
The “detail” of the growth plan made it impossible for an independent watchdog to assess it before the government published it, a minister has suggested.
Asked by BBC Breakfast why the OBR was not given the opportunity to make an assessment of the plan, Treasury minister Andrew Griffith said there was a “lot of detail” in the document.
He added:
This growth plan is full of detail about how this government is going to grow the economy. Forty pages.
Details of infrastructure plans that have been long held up that we are going to crack through, detail about how we are going to bring forward the new clean energy revolution.
It is for the OBR to ultimately decide how they reflect that in their plans.
Pressed about how many pages were in a normal budget document and how quickly the OBR could turn around an analysis of those plans, Griffith said:
To be honest, I am not going to answer that, I just don’t know. It is quite chunky.
Updated
The prime minister and chancellor have lost the faith of the markets and the public and will never get it back, Labour has said.
Asked whether Liz Truss’s meeting with the Office for Budget Responsibility will reassure markets, the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told Sky News:
It’s a bit late for that now, isn’t it?
He added:
I cannot stress how angry people should be at this government for what is, without question, one of the biggest unforced errors in policy-making in this country’s history.
Reynolds claimed people and businesses were looking at the “entire approach” of the government and “saying we have no faith in these institutions”. “I will be frank,” he said. “I don’t think either the prime minister or the chancellor will ever get that back.”
Updated
Early Truss comments on scrapping benefits stoke fears of further cuts
Liz Truss has previously suggested universal benefits such as the state pension should be scrapped because of the “huge expense” to taxpayers of “recycling” their money through the system – prompting fears she could go further still with her plans to cut back the benefits bill.
The proposal, included in her motion to the Liberal Democrat Youth conference in spring 1995, highlighted the “enormous – and rising – cost of pensions and child benefit”, calling for a “search for realistic alternatives to universal benefits”.
Truss, who left the party the next year to join the Conservatives, had added that it was not “socially desirable to pay out universal benefits in the current fashion”, given the “huge expense to the taxpayers of recycling money through the tax system”.
Child benefit was removed for higher-rate taxpayers in 2013 but remains universal for some families earning below the £50,000 threshold who do not qualify for universal credit. All older people qualify for a state pension and winter fuel benefits.
There is no suggestion Truss plans to scrap either benefit, but her earlier views may raise concerns, as she promised to clamp down on the benefits system during her leadership campaign and has already announced plans to cut working age benefits and for “efficiency savings” across all government departments.
The Lib Dem pensions spokesperson, Wendy Chamberlain, said:
We are seeing this government’s true colours. It’s little surprise Liz Truss is refusing to provide help to those who need it most given she has long wanted to scrap the state pension and child benefits.
The Conservative government could not be more out of touch with the British people. As inflation sky-rockets, interest rates spiral and borrowing surges, they’d rather give tax cuts to banks, massive corporations and billionaires than guarantee support for struggling families and pensioners.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister’s views are not the same as they were 27 years ago.
However, Truss continues to argue that taxpayers’ money should not “recycled” – or collected by the state only to be redistributed back to them.
Meanwhile, Liz Truss faces urgent calls from the Treasury select committee to bring forward the government’s financial statement, which is not due until 23 November, by at least a month – and to publish growth forecasts as soon as possible to help calm jitters.
The Treasury select committee’s chair, Mel Stride, told the Guardian there was a path out of the current economic situation for the government, but added:
It’s not a very broad path. There is a lot of work to be done. This is a huge challenge.
The Guardian understands Truss will use this morning’s meeting with the Office for Budget Responsibility to discuss the dramatic economic and fiscal developments since March, the last time the OBR published growth forecasts.
Kwarteng will continue liaising with the body over the forecast process before the release of the next figures.
In other news from Westminster:
Liz Truss will attend a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Prague in October, according to PA Media. It is understood the prime minister wanted to attend because energy and migration, both items on the agenda of the meeting, are two of her priorities and she sees the need to work with other European leaders to resolve the issues.
A YouGov poll for the Times gives Labour a 33-point lead over the Conservatives, understood to be the biggest gap recorded since the late 1990s.
The NASUWT union has given a formal dispute notice to the Department for Education and other employers over its demand for a 12% pay rise for teachers, with the threat of a strike ballot if that is not met.
Liz Truss repeatedly suggested that the “international situation” was primarily responsible for the economic turmoil in the UK markets. But in a speech, Huw Pill, the chief economist at the Bank of England, will stress that the mini-budget is a factor, too.
Kwasi Kwarteng heightened speculation that benefits won’t be increased in line with inflation. Asked if he would honour the commitment of the previous government, he said: “We are talking about helping people in the round. It is premature for me to come to a decision on that. But we are absolutely focused on making sure that the most vulnerable in our society are protected through what could be a challenging time.”
Updated
Liz Truss to hold emergency talks with OBR after failing to calm markets
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog on the day that the prime minister, Liz Truss, is to hold talks with the head of Britain’s independent fiscal watchdog.
The emergency meeting comes as she has so far failed to dampen panic in the financial markets or shore up support from Tory MPs on her radical economic plan.
In a highly unusual move, the prime minister will meet the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, on Friday, along with her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, before being presented with a first draft of its full fiscal forecasts next week.
One government insider said the OBR meeting was “like trying to read the manual after you’ve broken the thing” after last week’s announcement of £45bn in tax cuts triggered investor panic over the future of the UK economy, prompting a sharp fall in the value of the pound and driving up government borrowing costs.
For more on that emergency meeting, see here.
Updated
