A summary of today's developments
Liz Truss met the US president, Joe Biden, in New York, ahead of talks. Biden said the Ukraine conflict, China, preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, energy prices and protecting the Good Friday agreement would be on the agenda. The UK’s prime minister said the UK would increase defence spending to 3% of GDP and “we want to work more closely with the US on energy security, economic security and reaching out to fellow democracies around the world” to protect freedoms.
Liz Truss said that any “sham referendums” in Ukraine would not be recognised, in a warning to Vladimir Putin. In a tweet, following a meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the prime minister said: “Putin’s calls for mobilisation are a sure sign his barbaric invasion is failing.”
Five British nationals held by Russian-backed forces including Aiden Aslin, who was sentenced to death alongside fellow British detainee Shaun Pinner in July, have been safely returned, the prime minister, Liz Truss, and Robert Jenrick MP said.
Gas and electricity costs for UK businesses, charities and public sector bodies are to be capped, the government announced. The BEIS department says that electricity prices are expected to be capped at £211 per megawatt hour, while gas prices will be capped at £75 per MW/h. Labour says the help has come too late.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, says she had a good conversation with Liz Truss in New York today. Afterwards they issued a joint statement on Ukraine which “strongly condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine and agreed that Putin’s recent calls to mobilise parts of the population were a sign that Russia’s invasion is failing. It is a statement of weakness.”
During Liz Truss’s speech to the business roundtable in New York, she said the UK-US free trade deal promised by Brexiters was not being negotiated now because Washington was not interested in one at the moment.
Scotland’s justice secretary, Keith Brown, confirmed that he would be discussing with the chief constable of Police Scotland the policing of events in Edinburgh last week following the death of the Queen, after questions from MSPs in Holyrood about the rights of protesters.
Labour has formally written to the head of the civil service to seek more information about what it called “incredibly alarming revelations” that Liz Truss’s chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, was questioned as a witness as part of an FBI inquiry.
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The foreign secretary avoided answering a question on whether the government’s current policy is one of “trickle-down economics”.
Appearing on Channel 4 News, James Cleverly was asked about US president Joe Biden’s tweet criticising the economic theory, which raised eyebrows as it highlighted the political gulf between London and Washington.
“It’s an unprecedented set of circumstances and the UK government’s response will be directed at those who are struggling the most to pay their bills,” Cleverly said.
“We want to make sure that we help the people that need our help, but we also want to make sure - and I have no doubt that the chancellor will make this announcement - we want to put forward a set of measures which stimulate business and then allow those companies - large, medium and small - to employ people, to pay them and to stimulate the British economy.”
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