That’s it for UK politics live for today. Thanks for following along and you can find our latest report on Rishi Sunak here:
Lord McDonald, a former senior civil servant, said the reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary was a “political” move by Rishi Sunak.
Sunak has been criticised for rehiring Braverman less than a week after she was sacked over a security breach.
Lord McDonald, who was head of the diplomatic service, said it was “not at all” dishonourable for Sunak to ensure all factions were represented in his cabinet.
Asked if six days on the backbenches was a short sentence for a breach of any kind, in civil service terms, he told the BBC: “It is, and six weeks is a rather short time to claim that that person had acquired massive and irreplaceable experience.
“So it looks political, it is political, but this is within the prime minister’s judgment and gift.”
Labour MP Chris Bryant has criticised Braverman for avoiding questions about her resignation.
One of the Nolan Principles which is embedded in the ministerial code is Accountability. How is it accountable to flee the chamber to avoid answering questions about your own resignation and security breach @SuellaBraverman ?
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) October 26, 2022
Updated
Sir Keir Starmer met Bill Gates in parliament on Wednesday.
The billionaire Microsoft co-founder and Starmer discussed a range of issues including climate change and global health.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer was pleased to meet with Bill Gates today and discuss a number of issues of mutual concern including how the UK best supports global health and equitable development, and how we use the goal of net zero to invest in science and technology to deliver the jobs and growth of the future.”
Updated
DUP says it is 'ready' for new Stormont elections as Northern Ireland deadline nears
The DUP is “ready to fight” in fresh Assembly elections, its leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said following talks with the Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
Heaton-Harris was holding discussions with Stormont leaders as a deadline for calling another election in the region approaches.
The NI secretary has repeatedly warned that he will call a Stormont poll if Friday’s deadline passes without a devolved executive being formed.
The DUP has refused to engage with the devolved institutions in Belfast in the wake of May’s assembly election, meaning it has not been possible to form an executive.
The party’s boycott is part of a campaign of opposition to the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol and it says it will not return to power sharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocol’s economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Donaldson told reporters in London there was “still some way to go” in solving the problems over the protocol following his phone conversation with Heaton-Harris.
Updated
Online safety bill dropped, reports say
The online safety bill has been dropped from Commons business for the second time in four months despite pledges it would return “in the autumn”, PoliticsHome is reporting.
The bill was expected to have its third reading in the Commons on 1 November.
These stages were originally meant to take place in July but the process was delayed after the resignation of Boris Johnson as PM.
The Labour MP Lucy Powell has criticised the delay in light of the findings at the inquest of Molly Russell last month.
Disgraceful that one of the first acts of Rishi Sunak’s government is to pull the Online Safety Bill.
— Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) October 26, 2022
After Molly Russel’s inquest, the need for urgent regulation has never been clearer, yet unbelievably, this government can’t decide if it wants to keep children safe online. /1 https://t.co/JTJjwvSGzo
Updated
James Cleverly has been criticised by Labour for urging LGBT football fans to be “respectful” of Qatar if they visit the country for the World Cup which starts on 20 November.
Chris Bryant MP tweeted: “Respect is a two way street. My worry is these ministers never say boo to authoritarian regimes where human rights are regularly trampled under foot.
“If Qatar want to be accepted in the community of nations, they have to respect all communities of all nations.”
And Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, tweeted:
Grotesque and insulting comments from Foreign Sec @JamesCleverly - Qatar arrests, locks up and subjects LGBT people to conversion torture. How, exactly, are LGBT fans supposed to respect that? We either stand up for freedom or we are its opponents https://t.co/Ehct0AFHQ9
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedMP) October 26, 2022
Updated
Arriving for talks with secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris in Belfast, Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill urged the DUP to drop its block on forming an executive.
“So the clock is obviously ticking and we’re very close to the Friday deadline,” she said.
“I’m here to meet the secretary of state and my number one priority is the restoration of the executive, that should also be the secretary of state’s priority.
“The people here deserve no less than a fully functioning executive, one that is going to get them get through the cost of living crisis, one that’s going to fix and invest in our health service – that’s where we need to be.
“As this deadline looms it’s just not acceptable for the DUP not to join the rest of us but they have an opportunity tomorrow and it’s up to them to take that opportunity.”
Updated
Kevin Foster, who was appointed minster of state at the Department for Transport last month by Liz Truss, has announced he is leaving the role after talks with Rishi Sunak.
Just spoken with @RishiSunak and sorry to be leaving Govt, but will be busy representing our bay from the backbenches in @HouseofCommons tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/ht6wodc70P
— Kevin Foster (@kevin_j_foster) October 26, 2022
Rishi Sunak’s boast at a Tunbridge Wells summer garden party of undoing Labour policy that “shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas” to give more to regions such as Kent looks likely to haunt him as his commitment to levelling up is questioned.
At Sunak’s first prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, challenged him over the clip, filmed during the previous Conservative leadership race, which seemed to show his pride in diverting money from poor cities to wealthier towns such as Tunbridge Wells.
“I managed to start changing the funding formulas to make sure that areas like this are getting the funding they deserve,” Sunak tells Tory party members at the summer event.
Tunbridge Wells is one of the UK’s most affluent towns in one of the least deprived counties in England. Starmer asked why Sunak did not now “do the right thing and undo the changes he made to those funding formulas”?
Rishi Sunak and his family plan to move back into Downing Street.
He lived in the No 10 flat when he was chancellor in Boris Johnson’s government, while the former PM inhabited the roomier No 11 flat.
The PM’s spokesperson told Sky News: “They will be moving into the No 10 flat, where they used to live.”
Asked why No 10 and not the bigger No 11, she said: “They were very happy there.”
Updated
James Duddridge has now tweeted to confirm that he was asked to leave his role as minister for international trade.
He said he was “disappointed” but that he would be giving Rishi Sunak his “full support” from the backbenches.
I am disappointed to be asked to leave my role as Minister for International Trade. Now is the time for us all to come together as a party. As I return to the back benches, I will be giving the Prime Minister my full support.
— James Duddridge MP (@JamesDuddridge) October 26, 2022
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a roundup of today’s developments:
Rishi Sunak has been accused of immediately breaking his pledge to restore government integrity by bringing Suella Braverman back as home secretary in exchange for a key endorsement for his leadership bid. Labour and the Liberal Democrats called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into national security concerns after Braverman, who was reinstated despite admitting leaking official documents.
Fracking will in effect remain banned under Sunak’s government, his spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, saying the new prime minister was committed to the policy in the 2019 manifesto. The confirmation came after the prime minister told the Commons that he “stands by” the manifesto, which put a moratorium on shale gas extraction.
Ministers are to re-examine the pensions triple lock and increasing benefits in line with inflation over the next fortnight, according to No 10, after Sunak delayed the announcement of the government’s fiscal plans from 31 October to 17 November. The Treasury has said the new date will now be a full autumn statement.
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, is holding last-ditch talks with the region’s party leaders to try to restore devolved government and avert an assembly election. If the meetings in Belfast on Wednesday do not yield a breakthrough by Thursday that revives power sharing, Heaton-Harris is expected to call an election, tipping Northern Ireland into further uncertainty.
Women’s groups have reacted with concern and anger over the low representation of women in the new cabinet. Sunak removed 11 members of his predecessor’s top team on Tuesday as he put together a cabinet that he said “reflects a united party” by showcasing “all the talents”. Under the changes, however, fewer than a quarter of all people – about 23% – able to attend cabinet meetings will be women.
The foreign secretary James Cleverly has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate. Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November.
Updated
Alec Shelbrooke leaves as defence procurement minister
Alec Shelbrooke says he will be returning to the back benches and leaving his role as a minister of state for defence procurement.
— Alec Shelbrooke MP (@AlecShelbrooke) October 26, 2022
James Duddridge sacked as trade minister
James Duddridge has lost his job as trade minister as Rishi Sunak continues his government reshuffle.
Duddridge said he had told Sunak that he would support the government “loyally” from the back benches.
Women’s groups have reacted with concern and anger over the low representation of women in the new cabinet.
Rishi Sunak removed 11 members of his predecessor’s top team on Tuesday as he put together a cabinet that he said “reflects a united party” by showcasing “all the talents”. Under the changes, however, fewer than a quarter of all people – about 23% – able to attend cabinet meetings will be women.
This is down from nearly a third at the start of Liz Truss’s premiership and is lower than under Boris Johnson, at 24%, and Theresa May, at 30%. The figure has been falling since its highest ever rate under Tony Blair in 2006-07, when the proportion of women in cabinet was 36%.
“Women remain significantly underrepresented in parliament where just 34% MPs are women and, while progress has been made, the pace is glacial,” said Amy Whitelock Gibbs, the interim director of policy at the Fawcett Society.
We need to ensure women, from all backgrounds, are not just in the halls of Westminster but also around the cabinet table.
Gibbs said the presence of female MPs in the rooms of power where decisions were being made had “undoubtedly transformed our laws and policies”, from equal pay to domestic violence legislation.
That is why, as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies and has a disproportionate impact on women, we were disappointed to see the proportion of women in cabinet drop. We urge the government to put women at the heart of its economic recovery.
Read the full story here:
A spokesperson for the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has said there are “conversations ongoing” between Labour’s chief whip and the MP Nadia Whittome regarding a tweet that said Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister “isn’t a win for Asian representation”.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Whittome said Sunak becoming PM “isn’t a win for Asian representation” due to his wealth and politics. She added “black, white or Asian: if you work for a living, he is not on your side”.
The Labour leader’s spokesperson has confirmed that Whittome was instructed to delete the tweet, adding that Sunak becoming the first British Asian prime minister was a “great thing” and something the country “should be proud of”.
Asked about Whittome’s tweet on Sky News, Starmer said he was “very pleased” to welcome the first British Asian PM and described it as a “real milestone” for the country.
Labour's Sir Keir Starmer avoids confirming if he asked Nadia Whittome to delete a tweet in which she said Rishi Sunak was "not on your side" as the first British Asian PM.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 26, 2022
He adds that he was pleased to welcome Mr Sunak to the role as it is a "real milestone" for the country pic.twitter.com/a82cjHJu71
Updated
On becoming Tory leader this week, Rishi Sunak said:
It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love, and give back to the country I owe so much to.
During his final prime minister’s questions in the summer, Boris Johnson said:
The last few years have been the greatest privilege of my life, and it’s true that I helped to get the biggest Tory majority for 40 years and a huge realignment in UK politics.
And Keir Starmer, when elected as leader of Labour in 2020, intoned:
It is the honour and privilege of my life. I will do my utmost to guide us through these difficult times, to serve all our communities and to strive for the good of our country.
It appears that owning up to your privilege is all the rage. Confessing to this sort of privilege is a shameless humblebrag. Some onlookers might suppose, after all, that the greatest privilege of Sunak’s life is owning many millions of pounds. Does the phrase even aspire to work as rhetorical misdirection, to distract the listener from whatever other privileges the speaker might have enjoyed?
We unpack the real meaning of the most overused word in politics. Read the rest of the story here:
Updated
Rishi Sunak’s first appearance at PMQs was a strong performance that will force the Labour leader Keir Starmer to raise his game, Sebastian Payne from the Financial Times writes.
Strong PMQs debut from Rishi Sunak, some golden oldie attacks but Tory benches remarkably united around their new leader (let’s see just how long it lasts). Keir Starmer will be forced to raise his game, haven’t seen exchanges like that since the Cameron years.
— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) October 26, 2022
Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, has criticised the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to delay the government’s fiscal plans, claiming the “unwelcome and unnecessary” postponement would “simply create more uneconomic uncertainty”.
The delay risked affecting the Scottish government’s own budget plans “as we will now need to wait two and a half weeks longer than previously proposed to see what the effect of UK tax and spending plans will be on devolved budgets”, he said.
He added:
Above all, it is essential that the chancellor heeds warnings not to impose renewed austerity, which would only worsen the extreme pressures already being faced by people and businesses as a result of inflation, rising interest rates and other economic factors.
The Scottish parliament will be kept informed regarding the timing of the Emergency Budget Review statement and will be consulted on any potential impact the UK government’s delay will have on the timing of the 2023-24 Scottish budget.
Updated
The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has responded to Rishi Sunak’s refusal to commit to the triple lock on state pensions. He said:
Older people are paying the price for the Conservatives’ economic mess. Rishi Sunak stood on a manifesto in 2019 on a pledge to keep the triple lock.
Now he’s threatening that promise to Britain’s retirees. With pensioners struggling under the Conservatives cost of living crisis, it’s clear that Rishi Sunak is not on their side.
Updated
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.
Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance.
Cleverly said:
I have spoken to the Qatari authorities in the past about gay football fans going to watch the World Cup and how they will treat our fans and international fans. They want to make sure that football fans are safe, secure and enjoy themselves. And they know that that means they are going to have to make some compromises in terms of what is an Islamic country with a very different set of cultural norms to our own.
One of the things I would say for football fans is, you know, please do be respectful of the host nation. They are trying to ensure that people can be themselves and enjoy the football, and I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe, secure and exciting World Cup.
The shadow digital, culture, media and sport secretary, Lucy Powell, called Cleverly’s comments “shockingly tone-deaf”.
She said:
Sport should be open to all. Many fans will feel they can’t attend this tournament to cheer on their team because of Qatar’s record on human rights, workers and LGBT+ rights. The government should be challenging Fifa on how they’ve put fans in this position, and ensuring the full safety of all fans attending, not defending discriminatory values.
Updated
Rishi Sunak’s commitment to reinstate the fracking ban has neutralised one of Labour’s key attack lines, as it is hugely unpopular in the marginal seats they hope to contest in the next election, but Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, did not seem impressed by the promise.
He said:
Last week Rishi Sunak voted against Labour’s fracking ban, but this week his spokespeople tell us he is in favour of the temporary moratorium on fracking in the Conservative manifesto.
Whatever their latest position, the truth is that that the Tories have shown that they cannot be trusted on the issue of fracking. The only way to guarantee that fracking will be banned for good is to elect a Labour government.
And by doubling down today on the onshore wind ban, Rishi Sunak is showing that he offers more of the same after twelve years of failed Conservative energy policy, which has made energy bills too high for families and weakened Britain’s energy security.”
Updated
Starmer also challenged Rishi Sunak over his decision to reappoint Suella Braverman as home secretary, after her resignation just one week ago.
Updated
Keir Starmer launched an attack on Rishi Sunak at PMQs, pointing out the new prime minister lost the initial Tory leadership race to Liz Truss “who herself got beaten by a lettuce”.
'Trounced by a PM who lost to a lettuce': Starmer attacks Sunak at first PMQs – video highlights https://t.co/r1bpWzs46X
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) October 26, 2022
Updated
Fracking will remain effectively banned under Rishi Sunak’s government, his spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, saying the new prime minister was committed to the policy in the 2019 manifesto.
The confirmation came after the prime minister told the Commons that he “stands by” the manifesto which put a moratorium on shale gas extraction.
The decision is another rebuff to policies launched under Liz Truss, as well as full rewriting of her fiscal plans. Under Truss’s short-lived government, she lifted the moratorium amid significant divisions in the parliamentary party.
A significant number of MPs, including in the cabinet, have spoken out against fracking, including the chancellor Jeremy Hunt who said in June that it would create “enormous disruption and environmental damage for little if any economic benefit”.
Read the full story here:
The government is now spending almost £7 million a day housing asylum seekers in hotels and the cost could continue to rise, MPs heard.
The Commons Home Affairs Committee was told £5.6 million a day was being spent on hotels for people who have arrived in the UK and have submitted a claim, with an additional £1.2 million paid to house Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban takeover while long-term accommodation is sought, PA reports.
The total £6.8 million is over £2 million more than the government said it was spending in February (£4.7 million).
Asked by committee chairwoman Dame Diana Johnson if the cost was likely to go up again, Abi Tierney, director general of the passport office and UK visas and immigration, replied: “Yes.”
MPs also learned the Home Office has only processed 4% of asylum claims by those who crossed the Channel last year and officials admitted the interception rate made by French police of those attempting the journey has fallen.
Concerns were also raised about conditions at the Manston Airport site in Kent, which is meant to be a short-term holding facility to process migrants when they arrive in the UK.
MPs heard the number of people arriving was “outstripping” the capacity of the site and some were being held there for as long as a month, compared with the 24 hours intended.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson has said that Labour wants the cabinet secretary to offer a substantive response to its letter about Suella Braverman after the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, wrote to Simon Case demanding an investigation “into the extent of this and other possible security breaches”.
He said:
Clearly, if there is content of the inquiry that has to be retained, that is understandable. If there was advice that went to the prime minister that there was a raised eyebrow within the civil service about this appointment, then absolutely that is something that should be in the public domain. It is perfectly possible to do that whilst preserving any operational matters that could be compromised in doing so.
Updated
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, is holding last-ditch talks with the region’s party leaders to try to restore devolved government and avert an assembly election.
If the meetings in Belfast on Wednesday do not yield a breakthrough that revives power-sharing on Thursday Heaton-Harris is expected to call an election, tipping Northern Ireland into further uncertainty.
Gloom shrouded the talks because the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has vowed to continue its boycott of the Stormont executive unless the party’s objections to the post-Brexit Irish Sea border are resolved.
The impasse raised the spectre of an election in December, which parties and voters do not appear to want, just seven months after the last one. Sinn Féin overtook the DUP as the biggest party in the May election, a landmark result, but its deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, did not become first minister because the DUP’s boycott.
The crisis has deepened a sense of political malaise in Northern Ireland and raised questions about the viability of power-sharing institutions established by the 1998 Good Friday agreement. The assembly has not functioned for four of the past six years.
Heaton-Harris, who was reappointed to his post by Rishi Sunak on Tuesday, has repeatedly warned he would call an election if no executive was formed by 28 October, a legal deadline. He repeated the threat on Wednesday.
Updated
The Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti has the full report on Rishi Sunak’s first PMQs:
Rishi Sunak has been accused of immediately breaking his pledge to restore government integrity by bringing Suella Braverman back as home secretary in exchange for a key endorsement for his leadership bid.
Coming under pressure in his first prime minister’s questions, Sunak did not deny that civil servants had raised concerns about one of the most senior roles handed out in his cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday.
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, questioned Sunak’s commitment to probity and professionalism after Braverman was brought back into the government despite “deliberately pinging around sensitive Home Office documents” from a personal email account.
Starmer said Sunak was “so weak he’s done a grubby deal trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election”, vocalising a concern some Conservative MPs have raised privately over the past 24 hours.
Braverman was forced to quit last week for breaching the ministerial code, and three days later, after Liz Truss’s government had collapsed, endorsed Sunak. The move was seen as a crucial win for Sunak, allowing him to demonstrate he had support from the right of the party.
Starmer asked Sunak if she had been right to resign last week, and said the home secretary’s integrity and professionalism should be “beyond question”.
The prime minster said Braverman had made an error of judgment and recognised her mistake, adding:
That’s why I was delighted to welcome her back into a united cabinet that brings experience and stability to the heart of government.
Asked if officials had raised concerns about the appointment, given the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, was said to have been furious, Sunak dodged the question and said he had already “addressed the issue”. Starmer said the evasion showed that while there was a “new Tory at the top”, Sunak had demonstrated he would put the “party first and country second”.
Here’s the clip of the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirming that his fiscal statement has been postponed until 17 November.
It was previously scheduled for 31 October but will now be a “full autumn statement” to reflect the ‘most accurate possible economic forecasts’, he said.
Updated
And here are some more lines from Downing Street, including that Rishi Sunak will appoint a new independent adviser on ministerial interests.
More news
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) October 26, 2022
- Sunak intends to appoint an ethics advisor, but won't commit to an investigation into Braverman
- 3% spending on defence is also not a definite commitment
Updated
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is seeking to fill a fiscal shortfall of £35bn when he delivers his autumn statement next month, officials have told Bloomberg.
The government has drawn up a menu of 104 options to cut spending as they seek to get the public finances back onto a sustainable track, according to the officials.
Updated
Here are some more lines from the Downing Street briefing, from the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot.
💥New lines coming out of lobby briefing
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) October 26, 2022
- Spox refuses to say if advice given against Braverman appointment, but says not true Case was "livid"
- Confirms fracking ban is here to stay, as per 2019 manifesto
- Nics cut will stay
- Triple lock/Benefits no commitment given
Downing Street declined to get into reports that officials were concerned over the reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Asked if officials had raised concerns about the matter, a No 10 spokesperson said:
I don’t as standard get into discussing the advice that ministers nor prime ministers receive from their officials, that would not be proper, but certainly I don’t recognise reports as regards the cabinet secretary.
They added that the PM is not committing to the triple-lock on state pensions. The spokesperson said:
That is something that is going to be wrapped up into the fiscal statement, we wouldn’t comment ahead of any fiscal statements or budgets.
But what I can say is he has shown through his record as chancellor is that he will do what’s right and compassionate for the most vulnerable.
Updated
The moratorium on fracking has been restored, Downing Street has now confirmed.
The PM’s official spokesperson said Rishi Sunak was committed to the effective ban on fracking set out in the Conservative party’s 2019 general election manifesto.
Labour has called for an investigation into Rishi Sunak’s comments during the summer Tory leadership election on funnelling public money out of “deprived urban areas”.
The shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy has written to her counterpart, Michael Gove, asking for an independent investigation to establish which funding formulas were changed, the New Statesman reports.
Sunak was filmed speaking to Conservative party members in Tunbridge Wells over the summer where he admitted taking money from deprived urban areas in order to give it to other parts of the country.
In her letter, Nandy wrote:
The Conservative government was elected in 2019 on a flagship promise to level up parts of the country that had experienced relative economic decline.
[Sunak’s claim] could not be more serious. The prime minister has admitted that when he was chancellor, he fixed the rules to funnel taxpayers’ money from ‘deprived’ to more affluent parts of the country. This is the complete opposite of levelling up. The prime minister has no mandate from the electorate to reverse the commitments made in 2019. His admission undermines the trust and confidence of the public and shatters the legitimacy of this government. It is a warning sign that Rishi Sunak is not on the side of working people.
Jake Berry, who yesterday left his role as Conservative party chair ahead of Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle, said Sunak “says one thing and does another”.
In public @RishiSunak claims he wants to level up the North, but here, he boasts about trying to funnel vital investment away from deprived areas?
— Jake Berry MP (@JakeBerry) August 5, 2022
He says one thing and does another – from putting up taxes to trying to block funding for our armed forces and now levelling up… https://t.co/Hwwn9fWffe
Updated
Sunak 'to reinstate ban on fracking'
Rishi Sunak has said he will reinstate the nationwide ban on shale gas fracking during his first PMQs.
Sunak told MPs he “stands by” the Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto commitment that banned fracking, a ban that was lifted by his predecessor Liz Truss.
Sunak’s pledge came after a question by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas, who later tweeted this:
🚨 A major result today: after my question at #PMQs, PM just committed to maintain ban on climate-wrecking #fracking. Rees-Mogg's dangerous, destructive & deeply unpopular plan to frack the nation is dead in the water - now we must ensure Govt sticks to its promise @GreenpeaceUK pic.twitter.com/sJ8Y26rOIW
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) October 26, 2022
A government source has confirmed to the Financial Times that Truss’s decision on allowing fracking will be reversed.
Updated
Rishi Sunak answered questions from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, at PMQs for the first time.
Here is the exchange in full:
Updated
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, gave a blistering speech in the Commons after PMQs, claiming the appointment of home secretary, Suella Braverman, was a matter of the “protection of our national security”.
Braverman appeared to have left the chamber before Labour’s urgent question about her resignation and reappointment.
The home secretary had “run away from basic accountability to this hhouse”, Cooper said. She added:
My questions are about security breaches and the protection of our national security. They are questions to the home secretary who was here just five minutes and who left.
Minister for the Cabinet Office Jeremy Quin answered Cooper’s question instead, saying that the home secretary had made an “error of judgment” and then “recognised her mistake” and “took accountability” for her actions.
Quin said:
The ministerial code allows for a range of sanctions where mistakes have been made. The home secretary recognised her mistake, raised the matter and stepped down. Her resignation was accepted by the then prime minister. Ministerial appointments are a matter solely for the prime minister.
He said it was time to “look to the future” and that the PM had appointed a team of ministers to lead the country through the issues it faced.
Updated
Stephen Kinnock (Lab) accuses Sunak of being prepared to “shamelessly swap red boxes for political support”.
He says there are “serious consequences to all this horse trading” and asks whether Sunak sought advice on security concerns about Gavin Williamson “given he was sacked in 2019 for leaking sensitive information related to our national security?”
Sunak says this happened four years ago, when Labour was busy supporting Jeremy Corbyn – who had wanted to “abolish the nuclear deterrent, leave Nato and scrap our armed forces” – and that he will not take any lectures on national security.
Updated
Richard Burgon (Lab) says Sunak knows only too well that the super-rich can easily afford to pay more in taxes.
He says a nurse would have to work “over 20,000 years” in order to match Sunak’s vast wealth. He adds:
Rather than announce a new wave of cuts and austerity, wouldn’t it be fairer for the prime minister to introduce wealth taxes on the very richest in our society?
Sunak says the government will always support hard-working nurses, which is why it is introducing bursaries and providing more training and “very strong pay increases”.
He adds that future “difficult decisions” will be approached in a way that is “fair and compassionate”.
Updated
Suella Braverman has left the Commons as the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, asks an urgent question on Braverman’s reappointment.
Suella Braverman has failed to turn up to answer Labour's urgent question in the commons.
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) October 26, 2022
Updated
Janet Daby (Lab), who describes the Tory government as “topsy turby”, says her inbox has been full of emails from constituents writing about their wages simply not going far enough, as well as emails about rents, energy prices and mortgages going up.
She says her constituents have been writing to her to demand a general election and asks the PM when there will be an election.
Sunak replies that he has already addressed the subject, but that “inflation is the enemy”. He adds:
It makes everyone poorer, it erodes savings. That’s why it will be a priority of our government to grip and reduce inflation and provide support to those who need it as we do.
The Green Party MP Caroline Lucas asks if Sunak will reverse the green light Liz Truss gave to fracking.
The PM says he is proud that his government passed the landmark environmental act for the natural environment and that he is committed to delivering on all those ambitions.
Sunak says:
We will deliver on what we said at Cop because we care deeply about passing our children and environment in a better state than we found it ourselves.
Updated
Blackford says Sunak appointed Suella Braverman to the Home Office because of a “sleazy backroom deal” to shore up his own position. He describes the move as “a return to the sleazy and scandal and ghosts of cabinets”.
He asks the PM if he will admit his mistakes and sack Braverman for her data breach.
In response, Sunak says he was pleased to have spoken with Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, last night and that he wishes to work constructively with the Scottish government.
Updated
Sunak refuses to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation
The SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, congratulates Sunak on becoming the first British Asian prime minister. The symbolism of this achievement is to be “warmly welcomed” by everyone, he says.
He asks Sunak if he will reassure people and guarantee that benefits will rise in line with inflation in his upcoming budget.
Sunak does not answer the question directly, but says he has “always acted in a way to protect the most vulnerable”.
He adds that he will “continue to act like that in the weeks ahead”, but does not commit to a rise.
Sunak says:
I always acted in a way to protect the most vulnerable that’s because it is the right thing to do and those are the values of our compassionate party.
I can absolutely reassure him and give him that commitment that we will continue to act like that in the weeks ahead.
Updated
Sunak says he is the first to admit that mistakes were made. He says the difference between him and the Labour leader is that he was honest over the summer about the difficulties the country faced, but Starmer was not.
He says:
He promised his party he would borrow billions and billions of pounds, he told his party what it wanted to hear. Leadership is not selling fairy tales, it is confronting challenges and that is what the public will get from this government.
Starmer uses his final question to call for a general election. He points out that Sunak was beaten in the summer leadership contest by Liz Truss – who herself was “beaten by a lettuce”.
He says:
He claims he wants to level up the north but then he posts about trying to funnel vital investment away from deprived areas.
Starmer adds:
He’s not on the side of working people. That’s why the only time he ran in a competitive election he got trounced by the former prime minister who herself got beaten by a lettuce.
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Starmer says Sunak “pretends he’s on the side of working people”. In private, he says something “very different”, the Labour leader says.
He goes on to talk about the video which emerged in the summer of Sunak in Tunbridge Wells saying he diverted public money from “deprived urban areas”.
Starmer asks:
Rather than apologise or pretend he meant something else, why doesn’t he do the right thing and undo the changes he made to those funding formulas?
Sunak responds by saying that Starmer “rarely leaves north London”. He adds:
If he does, he will know that there are deprived areas in our rural communities, in our coastal communities, and across the south.
Starmer goes on to attack Sunak on non-dom statuses, saying the government “allows very rich people to live here but register abroad for tax purposes”. He says:
I don’t need to explain to the prime minister how non-dom status works – he already knows all about that.
He calls for the PM to get rid of such statuses, adding:
Why doesn’t he put his money where his mouth is?
In response, Sunak says he will “have to take difficult decisions to restore economic stability” – and says more will be revealed in the autumn statement.
He says the goverment will always protect the most vulnerable, as it did in Covid.
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Starmer says Sunak has “done a grubby deal” trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election.
There may be a new Tory at the top but with Tories, it’s always “party first, country second”, Starmer says.
Sunak responds to Starmer’s assertion and suggests perhaps the Labour leader should explain why a few years ago he was supporting the member of Islington North, a reference to Jeremy Corbyn.
Sunak replies he has already addressed the issue of the home secretary’s reappointment.
Sunak says he hopes Starmer will welcome the news today that there are “over 15,000 new police officers” on our streets and that the home secretary will support them to tackle burglaries.
Meanwhile, he says, Labour “will be backing the lunatic protesting fringe that are stopping working people carrying on with their lives”.
Starmer points out that Sunak pledged integrity, professionalism and accountability in his statement outside Downing Street yesterday. He says:
But then, with his first act, he appointed a home secretary who was sacked by his predecessor a week ago for deliberately pinging around sensitive Home Office documents from her personal account.
Starmer goes on to say that his experience running the Crown Prosecution Service means he knows firsthand how important it is to have a home secretary “whose integrity and professionalism are beyond question”.
He asks if officials have raised concerns about his decision to appoint Braverman.
Braverman 'made an error of judgment', says Sunak
Starmer asks Sunak if Suella Braverman was right to resign last week for breach of security. Sunak replies:
The home secretary made an error of judgment but she recognised that she raised the matter and she accepted her mistake.
Braverman will be focused on “cracking down on criminals, on defending our borders”, he adds.
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The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomes Rishi Sunak and says the first British Asian prime minister is a “significant moment in our national story”.
It is “a reminder that for all the challenges we face as a country, Britain is a place where people of all races and all beliefs can fulfil their dreams” Starmer says. It’s part of what makes us all so proud to be British, he adds.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Lab) begins by congratulating Rishi Sunak on his new post and of being the first PM of a South Asian heritage.
He asks if Sunak has changed his mind about campaigning to prohibit the development of onshore wind, which he says is the cheapest form of power available to us in the country.
Sunak replies by saying that he “sticks by what we said in our manifesto”, adding:
The important thing is to focus on our long term energy security. That means more renewables, more offshore wind, and indeed more nuclear. That’s what this government wants.
Rishi Sunak begins his first PMQs with the standard statement about his engagements, that he had meetings with ministerial colleagues in addition to his duties in the House.
Sunak to face his first PMQs
Rishi Sunak is about to begin his first Commons appearance as prime minister.
The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to appoint Suella Braverman as home secretary after she resigned over security reasons one week ago.
Braverman handed in her resignation to then prime minister, Liz Truss, after sending a confidential email from her personal email address, breaking ministerial code.
Cleverly said Braverman had “made a mistake” and Sunak wished to see the home secretary ‘see through’ her robust plans for policing and immigration.
Labour granted urgent question on Braverman appointment
Labour has been granted an urgent question in the Commons later on Wednesday, with the party due to ask the home secretary Suella Braverman to make a statement on her resignation and reappointment.
The shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will ask Braverman “to make a statement on her resignation and reappointment as home secretary”.
The Commons will hear the question after PMQ this lunchtime.
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Rishi Sunak has been pictured leaving No 10 for the House of Commons to attend his first Prime Minister’s Questions.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announcing his decision to delay his fiscal statement, also defended the appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary a week after she was forced out of the role.
Asked if he was happy with the reappointment and whether he trusted Braverman, he told reporters:
She apologised for her mistakes. She’s been fully accountable for those mistakes, she stepped down as home secretary. But from the point of view of people at home, who want stability in the economy, they also need to see a united Conservative party and that’s why the prime minister has put together a cabinet of all the talents.
Would Jeremy Hunt trust Suella Braverman with sensitive information?
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 26, 2022
"She apologised for her mistakes, she has been fully accountable for those mistakes, she stepped down as home secretary... the prime minister has put together a cabinet of all talents"https://t.co/D4qZLdX1qi pic.twitter.com/XWEwZB8UIs
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The new environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has said that protecting the environment will be at the heart of her mission in her new role.
This may not seem like a significant statement but her predecessor, Ranil Jayawardena, initially claimed his role was mostly about supporting economic growth and cutting red tape for farmers.
Her statement could signal hope that she is moving away from divisive policies such as scrapping nature-friendly farming incentives, banning solar farms and attacking the RSPB. She has also vowed to work with environment groups to protect nature – perhaps meaning the tensions between the department and groups including the RSPB and national trust could be soothed.
She told the Guardian:
I am delighted to return to Defra, this time as secretary of state.
As the prime minister set out, protecting our environment is at heart of our manifesto. I will work closely with rural communities, farmers, industry and the champions of our environment to strengthen our natural environment and support our thriving food and farming sector. I look forward to resuming our work to protect nature and deliver a stronger rural economy.
New- the environment secretary @theresecoffey has vowed to work with environment groups and protect nature. Very different tone to her predecessor - are we going to see an end to divisive nature policies and language towards the environment NGOs? pic.twitter.com/OXBcpqS06N
— Helena Horton (@horton_official) October 26, 2022
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The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has insisted postponing the fiscal statement was the right move to ensure the “very, very difficult decisions” required “stand the test of time”.
He told reporters:
The OBR also want to make sure that their forecasts are the most accurate possible and there have been a lot of changes even in the last 48 hours.
This is my recommendation to the prime minister as the best way to ensure that the decisions that we take, these very, very difficult decisions, are ones that stand the test of time and give us the best chance of giving people security over the mortgages, over their jobs, over the cost-of-living concerns that everyone has.
He added that he is willing to make “politically embarrassing” choices. He said:
I’ve demonstrated in the short time that I’ve been chancellor that I’m willing to take decisions very quickly and I’m willing to make choices that are politically embarrassing if they’re the right thing to do for the country, if they’re in the national interest.
Now we have a new prime minister and the prospect of much longer-term stability for the economy and the country. In that context a short two-and-a-half week delay is the best way we will make sure that it is the right decisions we take.
The SNP has said Rishi Sunak’s record is a serious cause for concern for households and public service, as the prime minister warned of “difficult decisions” ahead with major spending cuts expected to be laid out soon.
Sunak’s time in office was already a clear sign of the looming threat facing families, the SNP said, highlighting the former chancellor’s decision to scrap the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit which slashed the incomes of 6 million people by £1,040 a year.
The SNP’s Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald said:
His record in office is already a serious cause for concern for what’s on the horizon for struggling families and businesses. From slashing Universal Credit, imposing an extreme Brexit, refusing to deliver meaningful support as the cost of living crisis worsened, and raising taxes on everyone else while his own family avoided them, Rishi Sunak shares the blame for the economic crisis and the hardship facing millions of people across Scotland and the UK.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has confirmed that his fiscal statement has been postponed to 17 November. Previously scheduled for 31 October, the statement will now be a “full autumn statement” to reflect the “most accurate possible economic forecasts”.
He told reporters:
My number one priority is economic stability and restoring confidence that the United Kingdom is a country that pays its way.
For that reason, the medium-term fiscal plan is extremely important. I want to confirm that it will demonstrate debt falling over the medium term, which is very important for people to understand. It’s also extremely important that that statement is based on the most accurate possible economic forecasts and forecasts of public finances.
For that reason, the prime minister and I have decided that it is prudent to make that statement on the 17th of November when it will be upgraded to a full autumn statement.
I’ve discussed this last night with the governor of the Bank of England. He understands the reasons for doing that, and I’ll continue to work very closely with him.
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Fiscal update delayed for autumn statement on 17 November
The Treasury has announced that the fiscal statement, originally planned for 31 October, has now been delayed until 17 November.
Prime Minister @RishiSunak & Chancellor @Jeremy_Hunt have agreed the Autumn Statement will be delivered on 17 November with an @OBR_UK forecast. It will contain the UK’s medium term fiscal plan to put public spending on a sustainable footing, get debt falling & restore stability. pic.twitter.com/3wiSAU1iaK
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) October 26, 2022
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The environment sector has reacted with some surprise that Rishi Sunak has appointed Thérèse Coffey as environment secretary.
At a crucial time for the environment, with much important and complex legislation coming down the line including the farming payments review due this week, many hoped the new prime minister would choose someone with recent senior experience in the department.
Names hopefully floated around as the reshuffle took place included George Eustice, the former secretary of state under Boris Johnson, and Victoria Prentis, a former minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) who is popular in the farming sector. Some even dared to dream that Michael Gove, the architect of a lot of the post-Brexit environmental legislation that was under threat by Liz Truss, might make a return.
However, there are some points of hope in Coffey’s appointment, despite the fact she has not shown much interest in the environment in the past. Unlike her predecessor Ranil Jayawardena, she held a junior ministerial role at Defra for three years.
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The head of the UK’s lobbying watchdog has called for tougher disclosure rules to show which ministers have been solicited, as well as a review of exemptions made use of by David Cameron and Philip Hammond.
Harry Rich, who is in charge of the register of consultant lobbyists and their clients, said it would “significantly assist transparency” if lobbyists were asked to reveal which ministers and permanent secretaries they had spoken to – as well as when, how and what about.
He also told the Guardian that it would “definitely enhance transparency” if contact between consultant lobbyists and special advisers was brought under the regime. “The more transparency there is, the more the aims of the legislation are being upheld,” he said.
Rich is making suggestions for more transparent lobbying declarations in a submission to parliament’s public administration and constitutional affairs committee (Pacac) in his first public intervention on the subject since taking the job in 2018.
In the submission, he suggests declarations include which minister or permanent secretary was lobbied, dates of the communications, medium of communication – whether by meeting, letter or email, phone, text – and topics of communication. “The fact that the targets of lobbying activity are not identified on the register feels like a significant gap,” it says.
Labour joins calls for investigation into Suella Braverman
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has written to the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, to demand an investigation into Suella Braverman after she breached the ministerial code.
Braverman was forced to resign for a security breach for emailing confidential policy to a backbench MP, John Hayes, and trying to copy in his wife but mistakenly emailing it to another MP’s office. Officials raised alarm that Braverman may have been sharing sensitive information outside the department.
Cooper wrote:
If a full investigation has not yet taken place into the extent of this and other possible security breaches, I am urging you and the Home Office to now urgently undertake such an investigation as the public has a right to know that there are proper secure information procedures in place to cover the person who has been given charge of our national security.
It must include the extent of the Home Secretary’s use of private email accounts to circulate Government papers and the extent to which official documents have been sent outside Government, as well as any other concerns that have been raised about possible serious information and security breaches by Suella Braverman.
The Lib Dems have also called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into Braverman.
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Rishi Sunak may delay a fiscal announcement that is pencilled in for Halloween and will be designed to stop the markets going into another spiral, a senior minister has admitted.
Given that the new government has only just got up and running, James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said it may no longer be possible to stick to that date for the statement, when major spending cuts and grim forecasts about the future of the economy are expected to be laid out.
The long-awaited statement was originally meant to be the former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s chance to set out his medium-term growth plan, and it was brought forward by nearly a month after borrowing costs and currency exchange markets went haywire off the back of his mini-budget.
Though Kwarteng was sacked as Liz Truss tried to shore up her dying government, the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, promised he would stick to the timetable, viewed as vital to reassure the City that the exchequer could plug a fiscal black hole of about £70bn.
However, Cleverly suggested the date could be pushed back, saying it would not be a bad thing if the government had more time.
Asked if the government could delay the Halloween statement, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
It may well do. The prime minister’s only just stepped in. That date was set by the previous prime minister in the anticipation that she would be able to work throughout this period of time on that with the chancellor. Obviously things have changed.
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Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary “tells you everything that you need to know about this government”.
Braverman is back in the role as the result of a “grubby deal” which helped Rishi Sunak “get over the line” and become prime minister, Phillipson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. She said:
One moment Rishi Sunak is telling us he will lead a government of integrity, and then another minute he’s appointing someone back into the Cabinet who’d been sacked only the week before for a serious breach of security and a potential breach of the ministerial code.
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Ministers educated at private schools make up nearly two-thirds of the new cabinet, led by the Winchester alumnus Rishi Sunak as prime minister, according to analysis by the Sutton Trust social mobility charity.
Some 61% of ministers appointed by Sunak attended private schools, similar to the proportion of Liz Truss’s original cabinet (68%) and Boris Johnson’s first cabinet (64%) but more than twice that of Theresa May’s 2016 cabinet (30%), and above that of David Cameron’s 2015 cabinet (50%). Cabinets led by Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had around a third of ministers who were independently educated.
🚨 PRIVATE EDUCATION IN THE NEW CABINET 🚨
— The Sutton Trust (@suttontrust) October 26, 2022
The new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has appointed his cabinet -
🔵 65% attended a private school (vs ~7% of the UK population)
🔵 35% went through a pipeline from private school to Oxford or Cambridge University #reshuffle pic.twitter.com/GFheJSZC6A
Sunak’s cabinet also sees the three major government departments all led by privately-educated ministers: the Home office, the foreign office and the Treasury.
Of the 31 ministers attending Sunak’s new cabinet as of this morning, 45% went to Oxford or Cambridge universities. This compares with 21% of all MPs.
As a prime-ministerial Oxford graduate, Sunak continues a line at Number 10 that stretches back to the start of world war two: other than Gordon Brown, every prime minister who attended university was educated at Oxford.
More from the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, who told Times Radio he didn’t know when the fiscal statement would come. He said:
The prime minister ... will want to spend time with his chancellor working through the plans to make sure that they fit with the priorities that he has set out as prime minister. If he can do that very, very quickly, then we may well be able to get it on that date. I haven’t had confirmation either way.
He once again defended the reappointment of Suella Braverman just days after being forced to resign from the same post over a serious security breach. Cleverly said:
Suella made an error. She has said she has made an error, she has apologised for that. But also what I know is that she is relentlessly focused on cracking down on crime, securing our borders, making sure that the Home Office is a high functioning department. I suspect that is why the prime minister wants her back around the Cabinet table because those issues are ones that I know of very close to the heart of the people in my constituency and other people across the country.
Updated
The first pictures have arrived showing Rishi Sunak with members of his cabinet at their first meeting in Downing Street.
Lib Dems demand inquiry into Braverman’s return as home secretary
The Liberal Democrats have called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary six days after she was sacked for a serious security breach.
The Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael, said:
Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10. There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises Sunak made to her behind closed doors.
If it is confirmed that Suella Braverman repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security, she must be sacked.
A home secretary who broke the rules is not fit for a Home Office which keeps the rules.
Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, yesterday accused Sunak, who had promised to govern with “integrity”, of “putting party before country”.
At noon Rishi Sunak promised “integrity, professionalism & accountability”
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) October 25, 2022
At 5pm he made Suella Braverman Home Secretary, 1wk after she resigned for Ministerial Code breach/security lapse
He put party before country. Security is too important for this irresponsible Tory chaos https://t.co/AU9OmMnn9T
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More Cabinet ministers were photographed arriving at Downing Street to attend the first meeting of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet.
Nicola Sturgeon reminded Rishi Sunak of her hopes to stage a fresh Scottish independence referendum and urged significant action on living costs during a brief inaugural phone call with the prime minister on Tuesday night.
A Scottish government read-out of their conversation said the first minister also asked Sunak to honour his pledge for a more constructive relationship “built on mutual respect” between the government, after a fractious relationship with his predecessor Liz Truss.
The statement said:
The first minister also expressed the strong view that the UK government should address the pressure and pain being felt by people and businesses as a result of inflation and other economic pressures, and should not exacerbate that with a further wave of austerity.
[Finally,] the first minister made clear her intention to honour the mandate the Scottish government received from the people of Scotland at the last election.”
Sturgeon, the Scottish National party leader, noted that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, had promised to consult with devolved administrations in advance of his emergency budget next week.
The continuing disarray at Westminster has led her finance secretary, John Swinney, to postpone by at least a week publication of Scotland’s draft budget. Swinney expects to cut hundreds of millions of pounds in spending, due to inflation and Hunt’s expected cuts.
In amongst a round of calls with foreign leaders on Tuesday, Sunak also called Mark Drakeford, the Labour Welsh first minister. It is something of a convention now for incoming prime ministers to speak to devolved government leaders soon after taking office, a tradition Truss ignored, to Sturgeon’s irritation.
More from the foreign secretary James Cleverly who this morning defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to reappoint Suella Braverman to the role of home secretary.
Braverman’s return to the Home Office comes just days after she was forced to resign from the same post over a serious security breach.
Cleverly told BBC Breakfast:
Suella made a mistake. She has said herself that she made a mistake. She’s apologised for that mistake and she stood down at the time.
He denied her return came in exchange for her endorsement of Sunak in the Tory leadership contest when Boris Johnson still threatened a comeback during the leadership race last week.
He added that Braverman has “very very clear ideas” about border control, policing and crime, adding:
She’s very passionate about that and got a very clear agenda for that. It’s clear that the prime minister wanted to see that delivered.
‘Not a bad thing’ if fiscal statement delayed, says Cleverly
The foreign secretary James Cleverly has suggested the fiscal statement planned for 31 October could be delayed as Rishi Sunak wants to ensure it “matches his priorities”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Cleverly said:
Obviously the date of that fiscal statement was originally set with no expectation of a change of prime minister. We’ve now had a change of prime minister.
Sunak is in the process of forming a government and will want some time with his chancellor Jeremy Hunt “to make sure that the fiscal statement matches his priorities”, he continued. He said:
I don’t know whether that means that date is going to slip... The prime minister and the chancellor know they need to work quickly on this but they also want to get it right, so we’ll see what happens to that date.
'The Prime Minister and Chancellor know they need to work quickly on this but they also want to get it right'
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) October 26, 2022
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly spoke to #BBCBreakfast about whether there will be a delay to the planned financial statement due on Mondayhttps://t.co/ziVdOaYwO7 pic.twitter.com/n2qHAUQfnv
He was also unable to confirm whether the government’s financial statement will go ahead on Monday while speaking to Sky News. He said:
We know it needs to come soon, we know people want certainty, we know people want a clear idea of the government’s plans. Whether it happens exactly on that day, I’m not able to confirm.
Ministers have been arriving at Downing Street to attend the first meeting of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet.
Updated
Jeremy Hunt may delay Halloween fiscal statement
Rishi Sunak is considering a delay to next week’s highly anticipated fiscal statement intended for 31 October, according to a report.
The Times has reported that the prime minister is expected to meet the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, today to discuss his proposals to increase taxes and squeeze public spending that are due to be unveiled to MPs and markets on Monday.
Sunak is considering postponing the update until next month to allow more time to scrutinise the options, the paper writes.
The statement could be pushed back and turned into a full budget to set out the new government’s priorities for all areas of tax and spending, it adds.
A government source said that while Sunak was across the “broad thrust” of Hunt’s plans, he wanted to “get under the bonnet” of the options. They said:
The prime minister and chancellor will be looking at the timing of the statement in the near future.
Updated
What the papers said after prime minister’s reshuffle
Rishi Sunak’s sudden return to the top of British politics and the unveiling of his new cabinet dominates the UK front pages on Wednesday.
The Guardian headlines “PM’s reshuffle gamble on first day in charge” and leads with an image of Rishi Sunak meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
The paper writes that Sunak “pledged to bring ‘integrity and accountability’” but “gambled by restoring Suella Braverman to the Home Office less than a week after she was sacked for a security breach.”
Guardian front page, Wednesday 26 October 2022: PM’s reshuffle gamble on first day in charge pic.twitter.com/IzkeKEFUfw
— The Guardian (@guardian) October 25, 2022
Rishi Sunak to hold first cabinet meeting ahead of first PMQs
Good morning. Rishi Sunak will meet with his new cabinet this morning and face his first Commons appearance as prime minister, as he begins the gruelling task of uniting his party and restoring the country’s economic credibility.
As he entered No 10 yesterday as PM, the fifth in six years, Sunak vowed to fix the “mistakes” of his predecessor Liz Truss and pledged to bring “integrity and accountability” into his government. His cabinet reshuffle was billed as returning experienced hands to the top jobs, but Sunak gambled by restoring Suella Braverman to the Home Office less than week after she was forced to resign for a security breach.
Sunak’s new cabinet keeps Jeremy Hunt as chancellor and attempts bridge the divide with former Boris Johnson supporters by sticking with the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, and the defence secretary, Ben Wallace.
Dominic Raab, Sunak’s own key ally who described Truss’s economics as a suicide note, becomes his deputy prime minister and justice secretary.
However, Sunak made several decisions that alarmed some MPs, as he reappointed Braverman as home secretary and declined to promote his former rival Penny Mordaunt. He also appointed David TC Davies as Welsh secretary despite his controversial comments on subjects including face veils, trans rights, child refugees, climate change and same-sex marriage.
Braverman, who still harbours her own leadership ambitions, was handed the job six days after she was forced to resign for a security breach for emailing confidential policy to a backbench MP, John Hayes, and trying to copy in his wife but mistakenly emailing it to another MP’s office. Officials raised alarm that Braverman may have been sharing sensitive information outside the department.
The return of Braverman, a Eurosceptic rightwinger, drew a shocked reaction from some MPs on the moderate wing of the party – but is widely seen as a “payback” for her endorsement of Sunak when Johnson still threatened a comeback during the leadership race last week.
Here is the agenda for the day.
09.30am. Sunak will hold his first cabinet meeting.
09.45am. Home affairs committee on Channel crossings, which is due to hear from David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration.
12pm. PMQs
2.15pm. Treasury committee hearing on the Autumn 2022 fiscal events.
My name is Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be taking you through today’s developments in British politics for the next few hours. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
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