Kwasi Kwarteng has invited Tory MPs to a meeting after the pound tumbled nearly five per cent to an all-time low, fanning fears over the government’s mini budget.
The currency tumbled to an unprecedented $1.0327, extending a 3.61 per cent dive from Friday when Mr Kwarteng unleashed historic tax cuts.
Furious MPs have hit out at the new chancellor and accused him of incompetence.
“Chancellors have resigned and parliaments have been recalled for less, but we MPs are being invited to meetings,” one MP said.
It comes as letters of no confidence in the premiership of Liz Truss have begun stacking up amid panic over her government’s economic proposals, a former Conservative minister claimed.
An ex-minister in Boris Johnson’s government told Sky News that the letters which could trigger a confidence vote have already been sent to 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady.
“Liz is f*****. She is taking on markets and the Bank of England,” the MP told Sky News, saying she and Treasury ministers were “playing A-level economics with people’s lives”.
Labour conference backs motions to renationalise rail and Royal Mail
The Labour conference has voted for motions aimed at committing the next Labour government to bringing rail and Royal Mail back into public ownership.
The conference also voted for a motion which calls for a negotiated settlement in the rail dispute and “supports all Labour MPs attending the picket lines until such an outcome is reached”.
Delegates also unanimously voted in favour of pay increases at least in line with inflation, a £15 per hour minimum wage and to strengthen collective rights.
Andy Burnham pits boosting public services above cutting income tax in diversion from Starmer
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has said he would prioritise public services and helping those on the lowest incomes rather than cutting income tax.
After Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said they would not reverse the government’s 1p cut in the basic rate, Mr Burnham again said he would have done things differently.
“Public services are facing a really challenging winter and we all need them to be able to keep going during that challenging winter,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One.
“I would have said it is a moment to secure public services with pay rises for public servants who otherwise will see their heads slipping below the water in a cost-of-living crisis and those on the very lowest incomes.”
Mr Burnham denied he was seeking to cause trouble for the leadership at the Labour Party conference but said he had a duty to give them a “blast of reality” on behalf of the people he represented.
“I’m talking from the real world as I see it and I see residents in Greater Manchester at risk. I didn’t come here to cause trouble. It is my job to give them that blast of reality,” he said.
Exclusive: Labour in green tech export bid to make UK ‘world leader in net zero’
Labour is to set out plans for a national network of climate business centres to win the UK export opportunities as the world switches to cleaner, greener technology, The Independent has learnt.
The move follows Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to put environmental investment at the heart of Labour’s offer at the next election, with the promise to make the UK a green “superpower” by 2030 by massive investment in solar and wind to wean the electricity system off fossil fuels.
Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds will use his speech to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool to make the case that green technology can deliver dividends for Britain not just in terms of fighting climate change but also in the creation of high-skill jobs and carving out new markets for the industries of the future.
Our poltical editor Andrew Woodcock reports:
Labour in green tech export bid to make UK ‘world leader in net zero’
Exclusive: Keir Starmer’s party promises network of climate hubs to sell UK green breakthroughs to the world
British tourists urged to watch currency movements ‘carefully’
British tourists have been warned to watch currency fluctuations “carefully” before switching money for their travels.
Nick Boden, head of foreign currency provider Post Office Travel Money, said that “sterling’s volatility makes it impossible to predict how exchange rates will behave in the coming weeks”.
“Our advice for people planning overseas trips is to watch rate movements carefully in the weeks leading up to their departure, and change money at times when the rate rises,” he added.
Buying $500 last week cost roughly £440, but this has now shot up to £480, as the pound dropped to all-time low against the US dollar.
Emergency Bank of England statement understood to be imminent
It is understood that the Bank of England is considering making an emergency statement this afternoon after the pound dropped to its lowest ever level against the US dollar.
Nicola Sturgeon calls Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget ‘morally abhorrent disaster’
Truss adviser says Kwarteng must reassure markets ‘head-on’
One of Liz Truss’s external advisers has said the government must urgently address market worries “head-on”.
Speaking after the pound tanked, Gerard Lyons, chief economic strategist at Netwealth, told the BBC: “What it suggests is that on Friday the chancellor failed to address the market worries.
“The chancellor probably could have done more work ahead of Friday to keep the markets onside and there’s clearly a need now, as we’ve seen from the market reaction, to address head-on those market worries.”
Furious Tory MPs hit out at chancellor after they are invited to a meeting to discuss his budget
Conservative MPs have been invited to a meeting with the chancellor on Tuesday after the pound plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar amid renewed fears over the government’s plans.
Furious Tory MPs hit out at Kwasi Kwarteng, accusing him of incompetence.
One angry MP said: “Chancellors have resigned and parliaments have been recalled for less, but we MPs are being invited to meetings.”
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Furious Tory MPs hit out at chancellor over budget meeting
Conservative MPs have been invited to a meeting with the chancellor on Tuesday after the pound plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar amid renewed fears over the government’s plans.
Peter Mandelson predicts ‘sea change’ akin to 1997
Peter Mandelson has suggested that the next election could be comparable to the 1997 victory by Tony Blair for Labour.
“I do feel there is vibrancy in the conference and among people here. There is not the sort of rancour that you experienced here when you came to conference during the Corbyn years, which was so factional. It really sowed so much poison and division amongst people in the party,” Lord Mandelson told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.
“It was like a permanent state of war going on. That has completely evaporated.”
He acknowledged that some hard-left members had been “purged and marginalised”, calling the party a “very different animal” under Sir Keir.
Calling the current government “exhausted and run out of steam”, he said: “I think we may well be seeing a time at the next election, a sea change in attitudes among the electorate of the sort that we saw in 1997.”
How is British pound performing against other currencies?
The pound has fallen against currencies around the world following the chancellor’s mini-Budget on Friday, as traders rush to sell off sterling, writes Holly Bancroft.
The British currency is down against the Albanian Lek, the Lebanese pound and the Malaysian Ringgit among others.
How is British pound performing against other currencies?
The pound fell against the Albanian Lek, the Lebanese pound, and the Malaysian Ringgit, among many others
