Politics

Liz Truss will hold meetings with EU leaders today after a chaotic party conference that left Conservatives divided over her policies. The prime minister has arrived in Prague for the European leaders’ summit where she is expected to have bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Czech Prime Minister

The plane flying Liz Truss to meet the Queen at Balmoral for her appointment as prime minister a month ago was hit by turbulence in bad weather and struggled to land at Aberdeen airport. The aircraft’s helpless circling in mid-air was seen at the time as a bad omen for her premiership. And after a

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has urged his ministerial colleagues to keep their views on government policy “around the cabinet table” as Liz Truss faces an open split within her top team over the 45p tax rate U-turn. The senior cabinet member warned his peers that it is “always better to feed straight into the boss”

Liz Truss will wrap up the Conservative Party conference by defending her approach and pledging a “new Britain for the new era” – after a week of U-turns and infighting. In her first conference speech as prime minister, Ms Truss will reiterate Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan to boost growth. And just a day after her

Liz Truss has refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, despite growing pressure from a cabinet minister and senior Tory MPs. The prime minister said she was “fully committed” to raising pensions, but that “no decision” had been made on the benefit uprate promised by her predecessor Boris Johnson. Politics Hub: Truss

The chancellor has admitted it has been a tough day after he was forced to U-turn on cutting income tax for the rich. Kwasi Kwarteng began his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference by saying: “What a day, it has been tough but we need to focus on the job in hand.” Just hours

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed that the government is axing plans to give the wealthiest 1% a tax cut following a bitter backlash from Tory MPs. Mr Kwarteng said in a tweet that the measure had become a “distraction” from his objective to grow the economy. He said: “We get it, we have listened.” Politics

A little under four weeks as prime minister and it couldn’t really have gone worse for Liz Truss. A mini-budget that precipitated a run on the pound (it has rallied a bit since), a £65bn emergency intervention by the Bank of England to prop up pension funds, and the withdrawal of nearly 1,000 mortgage deals

Liz Truss has admitted that she “should have laid the ground better” for the government’s tax-cutting mini-budget after the pound slumped to a record low. The prime minister said she has “learnt from that” and “will make sure in future we will do a better job of laying the ground”. Ms Truss also doubled down

Liz Truss and the Tories’ approval ratings have again plummeted in a fresh poll – as Labour jumped to a 19-point lead. The Opinium poll showed 55% of voters disapprove of the new prime minister and just 18% approve, which is worse than Boris Johnson’s final days in office. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is no more

Liz Truss has for the first time acknowledged that “there has been disruption” to the UK economy following last week’s mini budget. Since the chancellor’s announcement of £45bn in tax cuts the value of the pound has plummeted, nearly half of mortgages have been pulled and the Bank of England launched a £65bn bail-out to

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have met the head of the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog amid the fallout from the government’s mini-budget. The government confirmed that publication of the forecast would not be brought forward from 23 November – more than seven weeks away. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) confirmed it would deliver an

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng will meet the head of the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog today amid the fall-out from the government’s mini-budget. The talks with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) come after a week of economic turmoil following last Friday’s announcements, which saw the pound plunge, mortgages rocked and pension funds needing to

Labour has surged to record leads in multiple polls in the wake of the economic turmoil after the government’s mini-budget. A YouGov/Times poll placed Labour 33 points ahead of the Conservatives, believed to be the largest lead for Labour in any recorded poll since 1998, when the-then PM Tony Blair was enjoying his “honeymoon period”.

Liz Truss says her government has “done the right thing” in its mini-budget in order to get the economy growing. Speaking to the BBC in a raft of local radio interviews this morning, the prime minister said “urgent action”, along with “controversial and difficult decisions”, needed to be taken to improve the situation in the

Sir Keir Starmer has called for a recall of parliament to discuss the financial market turmoil following Friday’s mini-budget. Speaking to reporters, the Labour leader said the move by the Bank of England to launch a temporary bond-buying programme to prevent “material risk” to UK financial stability was “very serious”. Politics Hub: ‘Growing movement’ for

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has criticised the UK government’s mini-budget, saying the plans for tax cuts and spending will increase inequality and counteract the Bank of England’s monetary policy. The conflicting government and currency policies, of seeking to ramp up growth via tax cuts and rein in inflation through interest rate rises, attracted sharp

Sir Keir Starmer has announced that a Labour government will create Great British Energy – a new, publicly owned company that will generate renewable sources “to cut bills, create jobs and deliver energy independence”. The role of GB Energy will be to provide additional capacity alongside the private sector, to establish the UK as a

Sir Keir Starmer will claim a “changed” Labour can turn the UK into a “growth superpower” in his keynote conference speech – as a new poll gave the party its largest lead over the Conservatives in more than two decades. The Labour leader will tell party delegates in Liverpool on Tuesday that Labour’s Green Prosperity

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the UK government is putting the economy in danger and attacked Prime Minister Liz Truss’s plan of “trickle-down economics” after the pound sank to a record low against the dollar. Sterling slipped to a low of $1.0327 on Monday, before stabilising at around $1.07, following lows seen after