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Published 56 minutes ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Liz Truss will meet the head of the UK's independent economic forecaster later after days of market turmoil. In an unusual move, the prime minister and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will meet the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to discuss the fallout after last week's mini-budget. The watchdog offered to prepare a draft forecast in time for the mini-budget but it was not taken up. A group of MPs has called for the forecast to be released "immediately". The Treasury Select Committee said the lack of this forecast before last Friday's announcements had "in some part driven the lack of confidence in the markets". News of the meeting with OBR chairman Richard Hughes came as a new poll gave Labour a 33 percentage point lead over the Tories. Five key exchanges from Liz Truss interviews … [Read more...] about Mini-budget: PM to meet head of OBR following market turmoil

Published 2 October 2020 comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Boris Johnson has said it is now up to the EU to avoid a no-deal scenario over post-Brexit trade. After the final round of formal talks between officials, the prime minister said a deal was "all there". But the prime minister said Brussels had to be "commonsensical" to get it across the line, with both sides setting an October deadline to settle their differences. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for talks to "intensify". She is due to meet Mr Johnson on Saturday via video call to "take stock" of the situation and decide the next steps. Talks between chief negotiators Lord David Frost and Michel Barnier broke up earlier, without an agreement. Mr Barnier said "persistent serious divergences" remained between the two sides, while Lord Frost said … [Read more...] about Brexit: Trade deal with UK ‘up to EU’, says Boris Johnson

Tory MPs are threatening to block the abolition of the 45p tax rate as Liz Truss faces a rebellion over the mini-Budget. Some Conservative backbenchers are furious about the measure, arguing that it is “toxic” and has come at “ a high political cost for very little benefit”. MPs have told how they are getting “shouted at in the street” about the tax cut for top earners while their inboxes are flooded with correspondence from constituents angry about the move. Rebel Tories are preparing to vote down sections of the Finance Bill to block the abolition of the 45p rate by supporting amendments that would see it struck out, The Telegraph understands. On Thursday morning, Ms Truss defended her mini-Budget plans , saying that as Prime Minister she was prepared to take “controversial and difficult decisions”. During a morning round of interviews with BBC local radio stations, she insisted that “we had to take urgent action to get our economy growing”. But this did … [Read more...] about Tory rebels threaten to block scrapping of 45p tax rate

By Jessica Parker Published 12 hours ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Prime Minister Liz Truss has agreed to meet other European leaders at a new political "club of nations" next week. The inaugural summit of the European Political Community (EPC), proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron, will meet in Prague next Thursday. Although the UK voted in 2016 to leave the EU, it is among more than a dozen non-EU nations invited to join EU members to discuss security and energy. Ms Truss has only just indicated she could attend the first meeting. She is said to want the group to focus on "delivery" rather than becoming a "talking shop". UK considers joining new European nations club Truss pledges billions to support Ukraine in 2023 UK defies EU legal action over NI border checks Fact-checking Liz Truss on the economy Mr Macron … [Read more...] about Liz Truss to attend first meeting of European nations club

Published 5 hours ago Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Conservative MPs in the north of England have called on the prime minister not to abandon her predecessor's levelling-up agenda. Members of the influential Northern Research Group (NRG) said Liz Truss needed to take "urgent action". The policy was promised in the party's 2019 election manifesto. Carlisle Tory MP John Stevenson, who was elected as chairman of the NRG earlier this month, urged Ms Truss to "double down on levelling up". He said: "That requires both short-term action in the form of tax cuts and investment in public services and, in the long term, finding ways to boost the productivity of towns and cities that have struggled for decades to retain talent and attract private investment." The NRG was founded by a number of Conservatives who took so-called red wall seats from Labour at the 2019 … [Read more...] about Northern Tory MPs urge Liz Truss not to abandon levelling up

Good evening. Here is the Thursday, September 30 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes. For weekend events and news on travel and culture in Slovakia, see the latest edition of our Spectacular Slovakia newsletter. Skryť Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryť Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement A peek inside a new hospital in Bratislava It is as if you are in the TV show 'House: M.D.' There are rooms with glass doors, single beds, and large en-suite bathrooms. There are also modern operating theatres. The company Svet Zdravia, part of the Penta group, showed the Sme daily what its hospital in Bratislava's Bory district looks like from the inside. Penta will open the hospital, located in the northwest of the capital, next spring. It should be fully operational from the autumn of 2023. Among other departments, the … [Read more...] about News digest: What does Bratislava’s newest hospital look like inside?

Published 2 October 2020 Share close Share page Copy link About sharing PM Boris Johnson has suggested the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the UK is a result of a "fraying of people's discipline" over the summer. He said compliance with the virus restrictions had been "high at first" but then "probably... everybody got a bit, kind of complacent and blasé". Cases have increased sharply across the UK since the end of August. After starting to relax restrictions before the summer, the government has since had to toughen its measures. It comes as the latest UK figures show there have been a further 6,968 cases and another 66 deaths. The R number - a measure of how many other people each person with the virus is infecting - has risen to between 1.3 and 1.6. However, there is more evidence that new coronavirus infections may be increasing more slowly than in previous … [Read more...] about Covid-19: Boris Johnson says everybody got ‘complacent’ over virus

Faisal Islam @faisalislam on Twitter Published 2 hours ago comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing The strategy from the government is that there will be no changes to the mini-budget. They believe that the fleshing out of the details of their economic plans on planning laws, energy, childcare, worker visas - will persuade markets that UK growth will accelerate. The combination of these reforms over the next few weeks and a medium-term plan to reduce the national debt, with "iron discipline" on existing spending plans, will, they argue, turn things around. Those spending plans were set in cash terms last year. They do not account for 10% inflation. And the chancellor himself would not commit to updating benefits in line with inflation, as was previous policy. Pension increases will continue to be protected. The "fiscal … [Read more...] about Faisal Islam: Liz Truss’ path to regain market credibility

The Liberal Democrats are to unveil a Remain pact in up to 60 seats, as Jo Swinson predicted an electoral breakthrough by the party could see more MP defections to them. Ms Swinson said the pact could make a “significant difference” as the Lib Dems, Welsh nationalists or Green Party stand down seats to allow the Remain candidate with the best chance of winning to have a clear run. She said the Lib Dems would be the biggest beneficiaries, with potentially tens of thousands of extra voters swinging behind the party’s bid to revoke Article 50 and block Brexit. “Mostly it’s going to be Lib Dems that are going to be best placed to win,” said Ms Swinson, who was campaigning in her electric battle bus for the first time on Wednesday, reaffirming her ambition for a “breakthrough” election to instal her as Prime Minister. “In Wales, there will be Plaid Cymru. In terms of the Greens, we are working constructively. It could make a significant difference. It could be an important part of … [Read more...] about Lib Dems to unveil Remain pact with Green Party and Plaid Cymru

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Expertise is still the enemy of the all-powerful howling-mad wing of the Tory Party but they’ve got a new name for it: orthodoxy. It is more than six years since, confronted with facts that entirely undermined his argument, Michael Gove declared he, and the people of this country had, “ had enough of the experts with their acronyms ” who disagreed with him. It was an outburst that made David Brent and “Finchy” declaring themselves the “real” winners of a quiz night, by throwing some shoes over a community centre, look statesmanlike by comparison. It also turned the word “expert” toxic; in that those who continue to share Michael Gove’s idiotic and entirely disproven view now know better than to repeat this particularly stupid phrase, so they’ve had to come up with another one. And that one is orthodoxy. A few days … [Read more...] about The all-powerful, howling mad wing of the Tory party have a new name for their enemy