Liz Truss cabinet reshuffle: Who’s in and who’s out?
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Liz Truss of seeking to “protect Shell’s profits and give Amazon a tax break” rather than help households and public services weather the cost of living crisis, after she ruled out a windfall tax on energy firms.
In their first PMQs clash, the Labour leader warned Ms Truss would force taxpayers to “foot the bill” for her reported plans – set to be unveiled on Thursday – to tackle rocketing energy bills, dubbed a decades-long “Truss tax” by the SNP’s Ian Blackford.
Despite calls to unify her party upon entering No 10 on Tuesday, Ms Truss culled supporters of her leadership rival Rishi Sunak and axed more than half of those in her predecessor’s cabinet in favour of close political allies.
Nevertheless, one incoming minister told The Times: “I doubt she’ll last two years.”
Ms Truss made Suella Braverman home secretary, James Cleverly foreign secretary and Therese Coffey deputy PM and health secretary, also controversially handing climate change sceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg responsibility for Britain’s energy policy.
Pound falls to lowest level against US dollar since 1985
The pound fell to its lowest level against the US dollar since 1985, knocked by a worsening economic outlook and the strength of the dollar.
It fell as much as 0.9 per cent to $1.1407 and is now at $1.1422, down 0.8 per cent, according to Refinitiv data.
My colleague Liam James has the breaking report here:
Pound falls to lowest level against US dollar since 1985
The pound fell to its lowest level against the US dollar since 1985, knocked by a worsening economic outlook and the strength of the dollar.
Shelved ‘bill of rights’ would have been ‘political nightmare for government’, ex-adviser says
Dominic Raab’s so-called Bill of Rights would have been a “political nightmare” for the government, a special adviser axed in Liz Truss’s No 10 clearout yesterday has said.
Describing reports that Liz Truss’s government has shelved the bill as “great news”, Rajiv Shah said the legislation “would have overpromised and underdelivered, the parliamentary passage would have been hell, and it would lead to very few gains for the government”.
“Furthermore, it would mean that we would own it. When the deportation of a foreign national offender gets blocked it would no longer have because of ‘Labour’s Human Rights Act’ but instead it would be because of the ‘Tories Bill of Rights’,” Mr Shah said.
He added: “To Liz Truss’s credit, it looks like she wants to focus on effective reforms and so has wisely chosen to drop this Bill even if it might cause a backlash from the right of the party.”
Truss energy freeze plans could see inflation peak at levels far lower than expected, analysts say
Liz Truss’s reported plans to freeze energy bills at £2,500 are expected to see inflation peak at far lower levels than previously feared, analysts have said.
Allan Monks, an economist at JP Morgan, said he is now forecasting CPI to reach around 9 per cent in the final three months of the year, down from his previous forecast of close to 13 per cent, thanks to the government’s expected proposals.
While rises in the cost of living will still be painful and the worst seen for more than 40 years, it is a far cry from the worst case predictions. Some experts had even forecasted that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) would soar to 22 per cent in January without any government intervention.
James Smith, a developed market economist at ING, said he believed the plans could also ease any recession, although it is unlikely to prevent the economy from going into reverse.
“There’s plenty to debate about a blanket price cap, but the obvious benefit is it’s clear and straightforward for consumers and should have a material impact on confidence,” he said. “It should reduce the depth of a winter recession, and would also mean inflation has already more-or-less peaked; January’s inflation rate would be roughly six percentage points lower.”
Deutsche Bank estimates that the support measures could add around £30bn to £50bn to gross domestic product (GDP) over the coming years, worth about 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of output.
It is thought the Bank of England may not need to raise interest rates as high as first thought over the next year or two, if it can rein in the inflation peak.
Truss appoints new national security adviser
Liz Truss has appointed Sir Tim Barrow as her national security adviser, No 10 has said.
Sir Tim, who is currently political director at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, succeeds Sir Stephen Lovegrove, who becomes the prime minister’s defence industrial adviser.
Announcing the appointment, Ms Truss said: “Sir Tim Barrow brings with him a huge wealth of experience safeguarding the interests and security of the British people around the world. This includes working on the UK’s response to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.”
Liz Truss says she will not allow Northern Ireland situation to ‘drift’
Liz Truss has said that she will not allow the situation in Northern Ireland to “drift”, saying the government must “resolve the issue” of the Brexit protocol.
The new prime minister told the Commons: “My preference is for a negotiated solution, but it does have to deliver all the things that we set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and what we cannot allow is for this situation to drift.”
The controversial bill, which Ms Truss introduced as foreign secretary, would hand London powers to unilaterally suspend parts of the protocol agreed by Boris Johnson and Brussels.
In her first phone call with Joe Biden, the White House said that Ms Truss and the US president discussed their “shared commitment to protecting the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the importance of reaching a negotiated agreement with the European Union on the Northern Ireland Protocol”.
Truss ‘yet to decide’ if she will appoint new ethics adviser, says No 10
Liz Truss has yet to decide whether she will appoint a new ethics adviser, Downing Street has said.
Lord Geidt, the previous adviser on ministers’ interests, quit in June and had not been replaced when Boris Johnson announced he was standing down.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Ms Truss was still considering whether to appoint a direct successor.
“The Prime Minister wants to consider the best way to achieve the functions of that role, that level of oversight, and to ensure the Government is held to the highest standards as the public expect,” the spokesman said.
Watch in full: Truss’s first PMQs exchanges with Starmer and Blackford
For those just joining us on the blog, here is Liz Truss’s first PMQs exchange with Sir Keir Starmer in full:
…and with SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, in which he dubbed her reported energy crisis plans a “Truss tax” to be paid for decades to come:
No 10 hints fracking ban could be lifted
Downing Street hinted that the fracking ban could be lifted when Liz Truss sets out a new package to help deal with the energy crisis.
In her campaign to become Prime Minister, Ms Truss said in an interview that “I support exploring fracking in parts of the United Kingdom where that can be done”.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: “She made clear her position during the campaign but I’m not going to get into what’s in this energy package.”
He insisted the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto still stands in full, but added: “I’m not going to get into what’s in the energy statement tomorrow.”
George Osborne claims Labour has ‘mistakenly underestimated’ Liz Truss
Former Tory chancellor George Osborne, who received a shout-out from Sir Keir Starmer during PMQs, has claimed to suspect that “it’s starting to dawn on Labour that they’ve made a mistake in underestimating” Liz Truss.
Therese Coffey: Who is the new health secretary and deputy PM?
Arguably one of Liz Truss’s most significant appointments yesterday was that of her old friend and karaoke partner Therese Coffey as health secretary and deputy PM.
My colleague Joe Sommerlad has this profile of her:
Who is the new health secretary and deputy prime minister Therese Coffey?
Former work and pensions secretary tasked with leading rejuvenation of NHS
