The prime minister will publish the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast on 23 November, despite calls for an early release of the report.
Liz Truss and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are rejecting calls to publish the assessment from the fiscal watchdog despite market turmoil.
Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng held an emergency meeting this morning with Richard Hughes, chairman of the OBR, which appeared to last less than 50 minutes.
Shortly after the meeting with No 10, the OBR said it would deliver “an initial forecast” on 7 October on “economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies”.
In a statement, the OBR said: “The forecast will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects, and the impact of the government’s policies.”
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.
Commons sleaze watchdog faces ‘outrageous’ claim she is letting off MPs to get peerage
A Tory MP has come under fire over an extraordinary claim that the Commons sleaze watchdog is seeking a peerage in return for letting corrupt MPs off the hook.
The Leicestershire North West MP told Ms Stone two weeks ago he was “distressed” to have heard there were “advanced plans” to ennoble her for reaching “the right outcomes” in political corruption inquiries.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen admits the rumour is unsubstantiated and likely to offend
Simon Clarke said he is committed to ‘spending discipline'
Simon Clarke hinted at spending cuts in his interview with The Times, with the former chief secretary to the Treasury saying he was committed to “spending discipline”.
“I do think it’s very hard to cut taxes if you don’t have the commensurate profile of spending and the supply side reform,” he said.
“If we’re adopting this plan, which I think is exciting and fundamentally addresses the competitiveness issue, the rest of the piece needs to move in tandem. We are privileged to deal with very large budgets. My experience as CST is that there is always something you can do to trim the fat.”
Mr Clarke said the country had failed to build the homes it needs since the days of Harold MacMillan, who was prime minister 60 years ago.
“The fact the green belt is larger today than it was when Margaret Thatcher came to power is an extraordinary state of affairs. This country has got issues with housebuilding.
“But we also need to protect the spaces that people love and to avoid a sense that the Government is threatening the very things that make communities nice places in which to live.”
Simon Clarke says PM is ‘doing what she believes is right'
Simon Clarke MP has said Liz Truss is “doing what she believes is right” for the financial market.
The secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said there will have to be sigificant cuts in public spending, telling The Times that the West has been libing in a “fool’s paradise” for too long.
He said: “My big concern in politics is that western Europe is just living in a fool’s paradise whereby we can be ever less productive relative to our peers, and yet still enjoy a very large welfare state and persist in thinking that the two are somehow compatible over the medium to long term.”
Irish premier says there is ‘genuine willingness’ all around to resolve NI protocol dispute
Irish premier Micheal Martin has said that he believes there is a “genuine willingness” on all sides to resolve the dispute around the Northern Ireland protocol.
“I think there is genuine willingness to make every effort to resolve this issue by negotiation,” he told reporters at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in Dublin.
“That said it will be difficult. I think what is important is that a process is entered in to that will facilitate in negotiated resolution for the issue.”
Barristers to vote next week on whether to end strike action- part two
It is understood the move requires changes to the digital system used by the Legal Aid Agency to make payments and, while officials are confident there is a solution available, they fear it may be difficult and expensive.
The pay offer came after High Court judges ruled that delays to criminal trials affected by the ongoing strike may not be a good enough reason to keep defendants in custody on remand if the dispute continues beyond the end of November.
There were fears the proposed deal could also prompt a walkout by solicitors after the Law Society of England and Wales branded it “short-sighted” and warned the criminal justice system will “collapse” unless the Government funds all parts equally.
The body representing solicitors said it was considering advising members not to undertake criminal defence work and would meet with ministers “urgently”.
President Stephanie Boyce has since said: “We will continue to push for a fair deal for solicitors for the crucially important work they carry out”, adding: “We will insist on further urgent discussions next week.”
Barristers to vote next week on whether to end strike action- part one
Barristers will be asked to vote next week on whether to end strike action after a pay offer from the government.
A ballot for Criminal Bar Association (CBA) members is due to open on Tuesday and close on Sunday, a spokesman said. A decision will be announced on Monday October 10.
The body agreed to ballot members again after talks with new Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis in which he decided to propose further reforms to Government-set fees for legal aid advocacy work, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.
The offer represents “further investment of £54 million in the criminal bar and solicitors”, according to the department.
Criminal barristers in England and Wales are taking part in a continuous walkout after their row with the Government over fees and conditions intensified.
Prior to that, they were striking on alternate weeks and refused to carry out certain types of work.
There had been anger that a planned 15% fee rise barristers are due to receive from the end of September - meaning they will earn £7,000 more per year - would only apply to new cases and not those already sitting in a backlog waiting to be dealt with by the courts.
But now the MoJ has said the fee increase will apply to the “vast majority of cases currently in the crown court” as well as provide a pay rise for solicitors, with further measures due to be announced in the coming weeks.
This is despite the department previously saying it had “repeatedly explained” to the CBA that backdating pay would require a “fundamental change” in how fees are paid, adding: “That reform would cost a disproportionate amount of taxpayers’ money and would take longer to implement, meaning barristers would have to wait longer for payment.”
Green Party calls for £75bn tax package for polluters and the wealthy
The Green Party has called for an emergency £75 billion tax package targeting polluters and the country’s wealthiest individuals, to fund a nationwide insulation and renewable energy programme.
At the party’s annual conference in Harrogate, co-leader Carla Denyer called for a new wealth tax on the richest 1% of households - starting with a marginal rate of 1% on those with £3.4 million, rising to 10% on those with £18.2 million and above.
She said there should be a “dirty profits tax” on North Sea oil and gas which would be used as a stepping stone towards a permanent carbon tax on polluting industries.
And she said the Government’s new energy price cap should be extended to limit the price of oil and gas to where it was last October, while the Big Five energy retailers should be nationalised.
“We’ve got the leakiest homes in Europe - losing huge amounts of energy through badly sealed windows and poorly lined walls,” she said.
“We could be saving hundreds, thousands of pounds through insulation - reducing energy wastage, cutting bills and emissions. It really isn’t rocket science. The cheapest bill is the one you don’t have to pay.”
Her fellow co-leader Adrian Ramsay added: “Rich people are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer and more anxious, and the new Prime Minister is, as we suspected, doing everything she can to maintain that status quo.
“She has doubled down on the Tories’ lack of compassion and awareness for people’s real-life concerns as the cost of living crisis is allowed to continue and gather pace.
“This government is nothing short of dangerous.”
Polls find growing anticipation of Starmer becoming PM
Half the public now believe it is likely Sir Keir Starmer will become prime minister - as expectations grow of a Labour general election victory amid troubles for the Government.
A poll of 1,000 adults by Ipsos found 51% think Sir Keir will enter Number 10, up from 38% surveyed in May.
More than of third of voters (35%) said it was unlikely Sir Keir will become prime minister, a decrease from 50% in January.
Half of those polled on September 28-29 said they think Prime Minister Liz Truss is doing a bad job, with fewer than one in five (18%) saying she is doing a good job.
This compares to 26% who thought Boris Johnson was performing well just before he announced his resignation in July.
The poll also found 39% of Conservative voters in 2019 think Ms Truss is doing a bad job, while 18% say she is performing well.
The findings come amid widespread criticism of the Government’s economic strategy, with the value of the pound falling following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget last week.
The proportion of those polled who say a Labour government led by Sir Keir would do a better job than the Conservatives has risen to 41%, compared to 36% last month when Mr Johnson was still prime minister.
This is the highest percentage since Ipsos started asking the question in 2021.
City cancels bonfire night to focus finances on cost-of-living crisis
Leeds has scrapped all six of its firework displays as it wrestles with budgetary pressures caused by soaring energy and food bills.
The cuts are part of the Labour-run council’s efforts to slash all “non-essential” spending in another sign of the problems being caused by growing inflation.
My colleague Colin Drury has more:
Soaring energy and food bills means local council says it has to axe all non-essential spending - inclduing fireworks
One-in-five seeking better-paid work to meet rising costs
About one in five adults are looking for new work so they can maintain their standard of living as costs soar, new data shows.
Nearly everyone (91%) polled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said their costs had increased in the last year.
As a result, 19% of working adults reported they are looking for a job that pays more money - that could include a promotion or moving to a different employer, the ONS said.
Moreover, 15% said they are working extra hours in their job because costs are rising so they need more money. Around 4% said they have taken pm another job to help meet their costs.
The survey found 7% are going to work more often to save on their energy bills.
The research was released a day before the new price cap on energy bills comes into force.
Under the cap, households will pay 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p per unit of gas they use.
For the typical household - 2.4 people in Ofgem’s calculation - this will mean bills of £2,500 per year. But of course this depends on how much energy they use.
The calculation is based on 2,900 units of electricity and 12,000 of gas, plus the standing charges that all households pay no matter how much they use.
But the ONS’s data contains at least some light at the end of the tunnel.
While 91% of people said their costs have increased over the last year, only 73% said they had increased over the last month - indicating households see think they are getting at least some respite.
