Pound – live: Liz Truss to meet head of UK’s independent fiscal watchdog after market meltdown

Prime minister Liz Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will meet the head of Britain's independent fiscal watchdog today following a market meltdown triggered by the mini-budget.

In an unusual move, Ms Truss and chancellor Kwarteng will meet the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Richard Hughes to discuss the economic and fiscal developments.

Mr Kwarteng unveiled a string of tax cuts last week in a fiscal statement that was not accompanied by OBR forecasts. The forecaster said it had offered to prepare a draft for the new chancellor in time for the mini-budget but it was not taken up.

Now, a group of lawmakers have reportedly called for the forecast to be released immediately.

The chancellor has insisted that he is “sticking with” his mini-budget, despite it spooking markets and forcing an emergency Bank of England intervention.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Sir Charles Walker said the Conservative Party faces an existential threat after Labour surged to a 33-point lead in one poll.

He suggested the Conservatives would “cease to exist as a political party” if the 33-point lead is repeated at a general election.

Key points

• Liz Truss to meet head of UK’s independent fiscal watchdog

• Liz Truss insists it is ‘right plan’ despite ‘disproportionately’ benefiting rich

• International Monetary Fund issues rare warning to Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng

• Tories face ‘existential threat’ as Labour gains 33-point lead - Tory MP

Truss accused of ‘repeatedly misleading’ public over energy bills

10:48 , Aisha Rimi

Liz Truss has been accused of “repeatedly misleading” the public by claiming no one will pay energy bills above £2,500.

During her morning broadcast round, the prime minister told BBC Radio Kent the government had stepped in to ensure “nobody is paying fuel bills of more than £2,500”.

She later repeated the claim to BBC Radio Leeds, telling the programme: “The action we’ve taken on energy bills will mean that Leeds and other people in West Yorkshire aren’t going to be facing energy bills of £6,000 which is what was forecast, they’re going to be, through the energy price guarantee, the maximum will be £2,500”.

Chiara Giordano reports:

Truss accused of ‘repeatedly misleading’ public over energy bills

No honeymoon for Truss, as poll gives thumbs-down to PM

10:37 , Aisha Rimi

Most new prime ministers can expect a honeymoon period in the months after taking office. But a new poll for The Independent suggests that Liz Truss will arrive at her first Conservative conference after 25 days as leader on Sunday with a significant chunk of the electorate – and even her own party’s supporters – firmly set against her.

A series of surveys released on Thursday night showed Tories under Truss trailing Labour by anything between 17 and 33 points – enough to send Keir Starmer to Downing Street with a majority to match Tony Blair’s historic victory.

Now a Savanta poll for The Independent reveals the depth of voter dissatisfaction with the new PM, who was selected by a tiny group of 175,000 Conservative members after the resignation of Boris Johnson earlier this year.

Andrew Woodcock reports:

No honeymoon for Truss, as poll gives thumbs-down to PM in first month in office

House price growth stalls month-on-month in September

10:23 , Aisha Rimi

Annual house price growth slowed modestly in September to 9.5 per cent, from 10 per cent in August, according to Nationwide Building Society.

Across the UK, the average house price in September was £272,259.

House prices recorded 0 per cent change over the month.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “In September, annual house price growth slowed to single digits for the first time since October last year, although, at 9.5%, the pace of increase remained robust.

“Prices were unchanged over the month from August, after taking account of seasonal effects. This is the first month not to record a sequential rise since July 2021.

“There have been further signs of a slowdown in the market over the past month, with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase remaining below pre-pandemic levels and surveyors reporting a decline in new buyer inquiries.

“Nevertheless, the slowdown to date has been modest and, combined with a shortage of stock on the market, this has meant that price growth has remained firm.”

Watch: First-time buyer claims lenders revised her rate ‘from 4.5% to 10.5%’ amid mortgage crisis

09:59 , Aisha Rimi

Labour: PM and Chancellor have lost faith of the markets and public

09:26 , Aisha Rimi

Asked whether Liz Truss’s meeting with the Office for Budget Responsibility will reassure markets, 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.”

Mr Reynolds claimed that people and businesses are 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.”

08:45 , Aisha Rimi

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 Office for Budget Responsibility (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. 40 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, Mr Griffith said: “To be honest, I am not going to answer that, I just don’t know. It is quite chunky.”

“There is a lot of detail”, he added.

Former chancellor calls PM’s meeting with Office for Budget Responsibility a ‘welcome move’

08:15 , Aisha Rimi

Former chancellor George Osborne called it a “welcome move” after it emerged that Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will meet with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Friday.

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.”

Treasury minister defends Truss’s meeting with head of Office of Budget Responsibility

08:05 , Aisha Rimi

A minister has defended the Prime Minister’s decision to meet with an independent financial watchdog for crunch talks about the mini-budget.

Asked if Liz Truss’ meeting with the Office for Budget Responsibility demonstrated the scale of the crisis, Treasury minister Andrew Griffith told Sky News: “It seems to me a very good idea that the Prime Minister and Chancellor are sitting down with the independent OBR – just like the independent Bank of England, they have got a really important role to play.

“We all want the forecasts to be as quick as they can, but also as a former finance director I also know you want them to have the right level of detail.”

Asked about reports the OBR could have carried out a forecast in time for the mini-budget, Mr Griffith said: “That forecast wouldn’t have had the growth measures in that plan. They were being finalised in the hours before the Chancellor stood up.”

Don’t abandon levelling up agenda, Tory MPs warn Liz Truss

07:55 , Aisha Rimi

Senior Tory MPs have warned Liz Truss not to abandon the “levelling up” agenda, as new research reveals towns and cities in the Midlands and North continue to lag behind those in the South.

Ms Truss did not mention Boris Johnson’s project to address inequality between regions during her first speech as PM, sparking fears she may ignore so-called “red wall” seats – crucial to the Tory 2019 election victory.

Tory MPs in the Northern Research Group (NRG) warned that the current economic crisis “risks further increasing the North-South divide” – urging Ms Truss to commit to the levelling up agenda.

Adam Forrest reports:

Don’t abandon levelling up agenda, Tory MPs warn Liz Truss

UK economy did not shrink as previously thought

07:38 , Aisha Rimi

The UK economy grew 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2022, a slightly more positive performance than previously thought.

The Office for National Statistics on Friday announced that a previous estimate of a 0.1 percent decline in GDP for the period had been revised upwards.

It means the economy did not shrink in the three months to June, has previously had been thought.

Jon Stone reports:

UK economy did not shrink as previously thought

Liz Truss demands spending cuts in ‘plenty of areas’ of public services

07:14 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Prime minister Liz Truss has confirmed that she is looking for funding cuts across the public services, declaring that there are “plenty of areas” where taxpayers’ money could be saved.

Ms Truss’s comments come after the Treasury wrote to the heads of all Whitehall departments telling them to deliver proposals for “efficiency savings” in budgets, with neither health nor any other area of public spending exempt.

The move sparked warnings to Ms Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng not to embark on an “act of national vandalism” by demanding cuts from services such as the NHS which are already pared to the bone after a decade of austerity.

Andrew Woodcock reports.

Liz Truss demands spending cuts in ‘plenty of areas’ of public services

Truss to attend European Political Community meeting

06:59 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Liz Truss is expected to attend a meeting of the European Political Community, months after the prime minister criticised the Prague summit in her previous role.

It is understood that the prime minister has changed her mind about the meeting because it will focus on two high-priority issues on Ms Truss’s agenda: energy and migration.

The October summit is French president Emmanuel Macron’s scheme to bring together EU nations and countries outside the bloc.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports.

Truss to attend European Political Community meeting despite criticism of it

‘Travesty’ if poorest benefits rise less than CPI, says Ex-pensions minister

06:31 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said it would be “a travesty” if the government increased the pensions of the UK’s poorest citizens by less than the consumer price index (CPI).

The Conservative leader wrote in the Daily Express: “The pension credit has always been legally required to rise at least in line with earnings inflation, but the government can choose to do better.

“I believe it must do so. If these poorest older citizens only see their pensions increase by the lower earnings figure, it would be a travesty.

“This is because the government legislated last year to strip them of their earnings protection and instead replaced it by price inflation up-rating.”

Liz Truss claims ‘no-one’ will pay more than £2,500 in energy bills

06:16 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Prime minister Liz Truss has wrongly claimed that “nobody” will pay more than £2,500 in energy bills from 1 October.

During a morning broadcast round yesterday, the prime minister told BBC Radio Kent and BBC Radio Leeds that the maximum amount households will pay is £2,500 under the Energy Price Guarantee.

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said that £2,500 is an “expected annual energy cost for a 3 bedroom household” and can go up for some people.

Liz Truss wrongly claims 'no-one' will pay more than £2,500 in energy bills

Don’t abandon levelling up agenda, Tory MPs warn Liz Truss

05:51 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Senior Tory MPs have warned Liz Truss not to abandon the “levelling up” agenda, as new research reveals towns and cities in the Midlands and North continue to lag behind those in the South.

Ms Truss did not mention Boris Johnson’s project to address inequality between regions during her first speech as prime minister, sparking fears she may ignore so-called “red wall” seats, which were crucial to the Tory 2019 election victory.

Tory MPs in the Northern Research Group (NRG) warned that the current economic crisis “risks further increasing the North-South divide” – urging Ms Truss to commit to the levelling up agenda.

Adam Forrest has more.

Don’t abandon levelling up agenda, Tory MPs warn Liz Truss

Liz Truss to meet head of UK’s independent fiscal watchdog

05:12 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Prime minister Liz Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will meet the head of Britain's independent fiscal watchdog today following a market meltdown triggered by the mini-budget.

In an unusual move, Ms Truss and chancellor Kwarteng will meet the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) Richard Hughes to discuss the economic and fiscal developments.

Almost £50bn of cuts needed to fund tax breaks for rich, economists warn

04:36 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Liz Truss’s government is on course to make public spending cuts of almost £50bn a year after the “unenforced error” of Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget, according to top economists.

Experts at the Resolution Foundation warned that Britain’s public sector was heading for a return to the austerity period imposed by the David Cameron-led Tory government.

If Ms Truss refuses to U-turn on her borrowing-fuelled splurge on tax cuts, the level of spending cuts will have to be “broadly the same or bigger” than then-chancellor George Osborne set out in 2010 after the banking crash, the think tank said.

Adam Forrest reports.

Office of Budget Responsibility says chancellor made mini-Budget without economic forecast

04:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Office of Budget Responsibility has confirmed that it could have produced an economic forecast in time for the chancellor’s fiscal event, but was not asked to do so by Kwasi Kwarteng.

It adds further details to ongoing objections that the chancellor made his mini-budget, which included £45 billion of tax cuts, without a clear economic forecast to back it up.

In a letter to the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford and the party’s shadow chancellor Alison Thewliss, the chair of the OBR confirmed that the body sent “a draft economic and fiscal forecast to the new Chancellor on 6 September, his first day in office”.

Richard Hughes wrote: “We offered, at the time, to update that forecast to take account of subsequent data and to reflect the economic and fiscal impact of any policies the government announced in time for it to be published alongside the ‘fiscal event’.”

“In the event, we were not commissioned to produce an updated forecast alongside the chancellor’s Growth Plan on 23 September, although we would have been in a position to do so to a standard that satisfied the legal requirements of the Charter for Budget Responsibility.”

Liz Truss to hold meeting with OBR amid market alarm at mini-Budget

03:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are set to meet with the head of the Office of Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) on Friday amid market panic over the government’s mini-Budget.

The prime minister and chancellor will hold emergency talks with Richard Hughes in an unusual move that caps off a week of chaos in the financial markets.

A government insider told The Guardian, which first reported that the meeting would take place, that it was “like trying to read the manual after you’ve broken the thing”.

Tom Batchelor has more:

Liz Truss to hold meeting with OBR amid market alarm at mini-Budget

‘Utterly damning’ the government failed to commission forecast from OBR- Ian Blackford

02:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ian Blackford MP, the SNP’s Westminster leader, called it “utterly damning” that the government failed to commission a forecast from the OBR.

He said: “The revelation that the OBR offered to provide a forecast to the Chancellor to go alongside his fiscal statement last week, but that it was not commissioned by the Tory government is utterly damning.

“This is in spite of the OBR confirming that it was in a position to produce an updated forecast that satisfied the legal requirements of the Charter for Budget Responsibility.

“Over the past week we have witnessed the devastating impact of the Tory budget, hitting people’s mortgages, putting pensions at risk, and hammering household budgets.

“The Prime Minister and Chancellor cannot keep ducking accountability. They must set out why they did not commission economic forecasts from the OBR to accompany their disastrous budget, and they must recall Parliament urgently and reverse their reckless plans.”

‘Devastating’ if Tories break promise to uprate benefits in line with inflation

01:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Failing to meet a commitment to increase benefits in line with inflation would lead to disabled people “starving and freezing in their own homes”, a charity has warned.

As the government looks to cut spending, neither chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng nor Treasury minister Chris Philp confirmed whether benefits will be increased in line with spiralling inflation.

In May this year, then-chancellor Rishi Sunak said benefits would be uprated by this September’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI), subject to a review by the Work and Pensions Secretary.

Asked during a visit to Darlington if benefits would be uprated in line with inflation, Mr Kwarteng said: “It’s 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 challenge.”

Mr Philp told ITV’s Robert Peston that the matter is under consideration.

Pressed, he said: “I am not going to make policy commitments on live TV, it is going to be considered in the normal way, we will make a decision and it will be announced I am sure in the first instance to the House of Commons.”

PM and chancellor defend tax cuts as ‘right plan'

Friday 30 September 2022 00:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Pressure continued to pile on Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng on Thursday, after the pair insisted their £45 billion package of tax cuts was the “right plan” to get the economy moving despite chaos on the financial markets and fears of rocketing mortgage bills.

In their first public comments since the pound hit a record low on Monday, neither the Prime Minister nor the Chancellor commented directly on the turmoil created by his mini-budget.

During a round of BBC local radio interviews, Ms Truss said the Government had to take “urgent action” to kick-start the economy and protect consumers from rising energy costs.

And during a visit to an engine plant in Darlington, Mr Kwarteng said the package he announced in the Commons on Friday was “absolutely essential” if the economy was to generate the revenues needed to fund public services.

However, Labour warned that ordinary families would pay the price with thousands of pounds added to mortgage bills as the Bank of England will be forced to increase interest rates to shore up the pound.

Fears among Tory MPs that the financial fallout could hurt them at the ballot box were dramatically underlined after a YouGov poll for The Times showed Labour opening up a massive 33-point lead over the Conservatives.

Seven best local radio takedowns of Liz Truss as she fails to defend ‘disastrous’ mini-Budget

Friday 30 September 2022 00:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss was interviewed across the BBC’s local radio stations on Thursday morning – where she was asked about the market chaos unleashed by her government’s budget.

If the prime minister was expecting an easy ride, she will have been surprised.

Here are seven of the most memorable moments where the morning show DJs put the prime minister on the spot, including the legendary, “Where have you been?”

Seven of the best local radio takedowns of Liz Truss

Liz Truss demands spending cuts in ‘plenty of areas’ of public services

Thursday 29 September 2022 23:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Prime minister Liz Truss has confirmed that she is looking for funding cuts across the public services, declaring that there are “plenty of areas” where taxpayers’ money could be saved.

Ms Truss’s comments come after the Treasury wrote to the heads of all Whitehall departments telling them to deliver proposals for “efficiency savings” in budgets, with neither health nor any other area of public spending exempt.

The move sparked warnings to Ms Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng not to embark on an “act of national vandalism” by demanding cuts from services such as the NHS which are already pared to the bone after a decade of austerity.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more:

Liz Truss demands spending cuts in ‘plenty of areas’ of public services

PM and chancellor to meet with head of Office of Budget Responsibility on Friday

Thursday 29 September 2022 22:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The prime minister and the chancellor will be meeting with the head of the Office of Budget Responsibility Richard Hughes on Friday, the latest move to reassure the markets after days of market turmoil following Friday’s mini-budget, the PA News agency understands.

Kwasi Kwarteng is facing calls to bring forward his planned statement setting out how he intends to get the public finances back on track after the OBR said it could produce a preliminary set of forecasts by October 7.

The Chancellor has said he would deliver his medium-term fiscal plan explaining how he would get debt falling as a percentage of GDP, alongside the updated OBR forecasts, on November 23.

Truss to attend meeting of European Political Community in Prague - continued

Thursday 29 September 2022 21:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The move to attend the meeting of European Political Community (EPC) - French President Emmanuel Macron’s scheme to bring together EU nations and countries outside the bloc - will raise eyebrows given Ms Truss’s explicit scepticism about the project only a few months ago as foreign secretary.

The meeting will take place in early October and the decision to attend comes as the Prime Minister faces political and economic turmoil at home after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget spooked markets and shocked mainstream economists over its £45 billion of tax cuts.

It has been reported that Number 10 had been pondering whether to attend the meeting in recent weeks, with European Union ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida using an appearance at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool to urge Ms Truss to attend.

News website Politico, which first reported Ms Truss’s planned attendance, also she was willing to host the next summit of the political group in London.

The decision to attend comes with the EU and the UK still deadlocked over the Northern Ireland Protocol, with the Government’s plan to rip up the post-Brexit arrangements in the region causing major ill-feeling between London and Brussels.

Ms Truss is seeking to strike a rapport with European leaders including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Macron after meeting the pair at a UN summit in New York.

It comes after Ms Truss courted controversy during the Tory leadership contest by answering “the jury’s out” on whether Mr Macron was “friend or foe”.

As foreign secretary in June, she also said she did not “buy into” a Europe-wide political community.

Truss to attend meeting of European Political Community in Prague

Thursday 29 September 2022 21:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss will now attend a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) meeting in Prague in October.

It is understood that the prime minister wanted to attend because energy and migration, both items on the agenda of the meeting, are two of her priorities.

The rapid crash of this Liz Truss government is without precedent

Thursday 29 September 2022 20:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

“It is rare, if not unprecedented for a prime minister to come to power and crash quite as rapidly as Liz Truss,” Sean O’Grady writes.

“When the late Queen asked her to form an administration in her name a little over three weeks ago, Truss just about had time to announce her energy price guarantee before the period of mourning halted all political activity. Now the mourning period has ceased, and the mini-Budget has been presented to mixed reviews, her ‘honeymoon’ is well and truly over.”

Read more here:

The rapid crash of this Liz Truss government is without precedent

Tory MP rules out immediate leadership challenge for PM

Thursday 29 September 2022 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Sir Charles Walker, a Tory MP, ruled out any immediate leadership challenge to Liz Truss but was highly critical of the approach taken by the government in recent days.

Appearing on Channel 4 News, he admitted that his party would likely lose an election if it was called.

“We’ve made our bed, we’ve got to lie in it,” he said.

“Overall, the statement doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense both to markets and members of parliament. The government needs to recognise that. It can’t go blaming journalists for not understanding it, it can’t go blaming what’s going on in the world for the way it has been received.

“It has been received in the way it has been received, because people just didn’t think it added up.”

NI consumers will not lose out on energy support offered in GB- Truss

Thursday 29 September 2022 19:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss has insisted that people in Northern Ireland will not lose out on energy support being offered to consumers elsewhere in the UK.

Northern Ireland’s energy market operates differently to the model in Great Britain, with specific rules and regulations.

The region is also without a devolved government due to the political row over the Northern Ireland Protocol post-Brexit trading arrangements.

This weekend the Government will introduce its Energy Price Guarantee in the rest of the UK, under which a typical household will pay on average £2,500 a year for their energy for the next two years from October 1.

Last week it announced a similar price cap scheme for Northern Ireland.

The scheme limits the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

It will take effect from November, but the Government said it will ensure households receive the same benefit overall as those in Great Britain by backdating support for October bills through bills from November.

It has also said it will provide an additional payment of £100 to households that do not receive support through the price cap, such as those who use home heating oil.

A previously announced £400 discount on energy bills that will begin to be rolled out in Great Britain from October is also being paid to Northern Ireland customers.

However, there has been uncertainty about when that money will be paid in the region.

Liz Truss says she wants to work with Nicola Sturgeon

Thursday 29 September 2022 19:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss has said she wants to work with Scotland’s first minister, despite saying on the campaign trail that she should be ignored.

The prime minister said she would be keen to cooperate with Nicola Sturgeon on growing the Scottish economy and energy generation like nuclear power.

But just minutes later Ms Sturgeon’s deputy John Swinney said the SNP had a longstanding aversion to nuclear power that would not be changing.

Speaking to BBC Scotland on Thursday after a tumultuous week for the British economy, the prime minister said: “What I want to do is work with Nicola Sturgeon to deal with our energy crisis and that’s about making sure we’re producing more homegrown energy - I’m keen to use more of the resources in the North Sea and also see more nuclear power stations built across the country, including in Scotland.

“I’m very keen to talk to Nicola Sturgeon about that because I think that will help us make sure we have long-term energy security that, alongside wind power in Scotland, we also have nuclear power in Scotland.”

When asked if she was playing into the hands of supporters of Scottish independence, the prime minister didn’t answer the question, saying instead: “I am very keen to work with Nicola Sturgeon to make sure we grow the Scottish economy.

“Scotland is a country that has fantastic entrepreneurs, fantastic exports, I believe that by improving infrastructure, by reducing taxes, we can really turbocharge the Scottish economy.”

Bombshell polls throw massive question mark over Liz Truss’s future as PM

Thursday 29 September 2022 19:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss’s hopes of long-term survival as prime minister have been dealt a massive blow by a bombshell series of polls, giving Labour leads of up to 33 points and showing support for the Tories melting away after her “kamikaze” mini-Budget of tax giveaways for the rich.

The prime minister emerged from five days of silence on Thursday to deliver a defiant defence of the £45bn package, which she insisted was “the right plan” even while admitting it handed “disproportionate” cash gains to the wealthiest in society.

But independent experts described the package unveiled by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last Friday as the biggest “unforced error” of modern economic history, warning it will usher in a new age of austerity, with the government needing to find almost £50bn a year cuts to public spending to meet its own targets.

Andrew Woodcock, Jon Stone and Adam Forrest report:

Bombshell polls throw massive question mark over Liz Truss’s future as PM

Truss says she will not allow the impasse over NI Protocol to ‘drift'

Thursday 29 September 2022 18:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Prime Minister Liz Truss has warned that she will not allow the impasse over the Northern Ireland Protocol to “drift”.

Ms Truss reiterated that the UK remained open to a negotiated solution with the EU but again stressed that she would act unilaterally to address issues with the trading arrangements, by way of domestic legislation at Westminster, if a deal with Brussels proved elusive.

The Prime Minister said there was a need to sort the problem one way or the other, as she made clear the ongoing absence of devolved government at Stormont was not sustainable.

In an interview with BBC NI, Ms Truss said: “We’ve always been clear that we want to resolve the issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, ideally with a negotiated settlement but we have put through the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill because we hadn’t been able to achieve a negotiated settlement.

“We will remain open to a negotiated settlement. But there are some fundamental principles that we have to achieve.”

She added: “We are open to a negotiated solution, but we are progressing with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill as we stand, because what we can’t allow is this situation to drift.”

Former cabinet minister tells government to ‘take responsibility’ for market turmoil

Thursday 29 September 2022 18:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Former cabinet minister Julian Smith called on the government to “take responsibility” for the market chaos of recent days.

He tweeted: “The Government must scrap 45p, take responsibility for the link between last Friday & the impact on peoples mortgages & make clear that it will do everything possible to stabilise markets & protect public services.”

Truss says she is on ‘the side’ of red-wall voters

Thursday 29 September 2022 18:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss said she was on “the side” of so-called red-wall voters, after the government was accused of delivering a mini-budget that delivered only for high-earners last Friday.

That same mini-budget plunged the pound and caused widespread market turmoil, but the Prime Minister has said she remains committed to her plan.

In a series of BBC local TV interviews, she told Look North Leeds that she was on the side of voters in those formerly Labour-held seats that will be crucial in the next election.

“I am absolutely on their side and that is why it is so important we grow the economy and secure the investments, secure the high paid jobs.”

Asked by BBC London about choosing to support bankers rather than those on Universal Credit, she said “wouldn’t apologise” for wanting a successful financial services sector that attracts investment into the UK.

Truss defends her mini-budget, saying country would face ‘higher inflation’ without it

Thursday 29 September 2022 17:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss has offered a robust defence of her economic strategy, warning that without her mini-budget the country would be “facing higher inflation and more likelihood of an economic slowdown”.

She made the comments as part of a series of BBC local TV interviews.

Asked about cuts to public services during an interview with BBC South East, she said her “priority” was frontline public services: “It’s delivering for people on police, delivering for people on doctors, delivering for people on building roads. That is the core duty of government and that will be our focus.”

She added: “Of course, we’re constantly looking at how to get value for money for the taxpayer...we are always looking at how we make government more efficient.”

BREAKING NEWS: Labour surges to 33-point lead over Tories after Liz Truss budget ‘disaster’

Thursday 29 September 2022 17:39 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Labour has surged to a 33 point lead in the polls as the catastrophic reaction to Liz Truss‘s budget unfolds.

Keir Starmer’s party was up nine points to 54 per cent in the polls, while the Tories were down seven to 21 per cent.

The unprecedented figures from the pollster YouGov come after Ms Truss took to local radio stations to try and reassure the public about her economic strategy.

Keep up with the latest updates here:

Labour surges to 33-point lead over Tories after Liz Truss budget ‘disaster’

‘Return to austerity’: Almost £50bn of cuts needed to fund tax breaks for rich, economists warn

Thursday 29 September 2022 17:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Liz Truss’s government is on course to make public spending cuts of almost £50bn a year after the “unenforced error” of Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget, according to top economists.

Experts at the Resolution Foundation warned that Britain’s public sector was heading for a return to the austerity period imposed by the David Cameron-led Tory government.

If Ms Truss refuses to U-turn on her borrowing-fuelled splurge on tax cuts, the level of spending cuts will have to be “broadly the same or bigger” than then-chancellor George Osborne set out in 2010 after the banking crash, the think tank said.

Politics writer Adam Forrest has more:

Almost £50bn of cuts needed to fund tax breaks for rich, experts warn

Report finds toxin may have caused sealife disaster in area earmarked for Brexit freeport

Thursday 29 September 2022 17:01 , Andy Gregory

As the chancellor bets the house on “delivering growth”, our economics editor Anna Isaac reports on findings which suggest a man-made toxin may be to blame for a marine die-off in the North East – potentially bringing big consequences for industrial activity, including future development of a freeport.

Toxin may have caused sealife disaster off UK coast, scientists find

Government ‘absolutely committed’ to pensions triple lock, says Kwarteng

Thursday 29 September 2022 16:44 , Andy Gregory

The government is “absolutely committed” to the pensions triple lock, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said.

Asked while visiting a business in Darlington whether the lock was guaranteed to go up at this month’s inflation rate, Mr Kwarteng replied: “The PM has been absolutely committed to the triple lock and we are absolutely committed to maintaining it.”

Tax-cutting mini-Budget was ‘absolutely essential’, insists Kwarteng

Thursday 29 September 2022 16:28 , Andy Gregory

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has said his mini-budget was “absolutely essential” to improving economic growth in the UK.

Asked by broadcasters during a visit to Darlington if his tax cut plan had been “a major economic disaster”, Mr Kwarteng said: “What we are focusing on is delivering the growth plan and making sure with things like our energy intervention that people people right across this country are protected.

“Without growth you are not going to get the public services, we are not going to generate the income and the tax revenue to pay for public services. That’s why the mini-budget was absolutely essential in re-setting the debate around growth and focusing us on delivering much better outcomes for our people.”

Voices | We finally found Liz Truss – and immediately wished we hadn’t

Thursday 29 September 2022 16:14 , Andy Gregory

This morning, Liz Truss “emerged blinking into the studio lights and managed to make things even worse than they already were”, writes The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul.

He continues: “The remarkable thing being that, as she presumably calculated, things would have become worse still if she had cancelled her series of pre-arranged interviews and stayed in her bunker.

“Conservative Party conference is going to be interesting.”

You can read his verdict in full with Independent Premium:

We finally found Liz Truss – and immediately wished we hadn’t | John Rentoul

Gilt yields enjoy steadier day after Bank of England intervention

Thursday 29 September 2022 16:01 , Andy Gregory

Gilt yields – the interest rate on government bonds – remain steadier today, after the Bank of England’s emergency intervention to start purchasing 30-year gilts in order to stabilise the market, which analysts warned was becoming “untradeable”.

At the time of writing, the yield on these longer-term gilts was 0.075 per cent higher than at the previous close, while that of 10-year gilts was 0.12 per cent higher.

UK economy was better off having Liz Truss ‘missing in action’, says Nicola Sturgeon

Thursday 29 September 2022 15:34 , Andy Gregory

The UK economy was “better off” when Liz Truss was “missing in action”, Nicola Sturgeon has said, after the prime minister ended six days of silence with a round of radio interviews in which she appeared repeatedly lost for words.

“Having heard her this morning and watched the market reaction as she spoke, perhaps we were all better off when the prime minister was missing in action than when she was actually out talking about the disaster she has inflicted on this country.”

Sturgeon: Economy better off when Prime Minister was ‘missing in action’