The pound tumbled and borrowing costs rose slightly after Liz Truss pledged to steer Britain “through the tempest”, in a Conservative Party conference speech interrupted by climate protesters demanding to know “who voted for this?”.
The prime minister’s vow to “get Britain moving” came as her Labour predecessor Gordon Brown warned of a “national uprising” if Ms Truss failed to uprate universal credit in line with inflation, after she risked tearing open a fresh Cabinet rift by saying the matter was still up for debate.
The conference has been marked by a series of extraordinary ministerial clashes, Labour’s surging poll lead, and chaos in the Conservative ranks, with Michael Gove forced to deny leading a “coup” against Ms Truss over her tax-cutting U-turn, after combative remarks to that effect by home secretary Suella Braverman.
But foreign secretary James Cleverly sought to play down Tory infighting, claiming the conference atmosphere was “fantastic” and rejecting “ridiculous” comments by his former Cabinet colleague Grant Shapps that Ms Truss had around 10 days to save her premiership.
Voices | Pie lady Liz Truss’s speech took an inevitable turn towards insanity
Our chief political sketch writer Tom Peck has given his verdict on Liz Truss’s speech. He writes:
“She wandered out and into this defining moment with the sure-footed certainty of a frightened Thunderbirds marionette. She stared out from behind the lectern with a grin that looked as if it might not merely have been drawn on, but cast in concrete. If, at this moment, she’d been played footage of her own funeral, one doubts it would have caused the smile to crack, which was, in many ways, precisely what happened next.
“Liz Truss only has one idea, one note, and that’s that growth. Growth growth growth! Growth will solve everything. She has absolutely no idea about how to make growth happen, apart from to cut taxes, keep saying the word “growth” and hope for the best.
He adds: “This is the fate to which she is now consigned – shouting about growth while getting smaller and smaller and smaller. Perpetually setting out your vision for Britain to a Britain that will never see it, not merely because it’s meaningless but because it’s never going to vote for it. The pie won’t grow, but the pie lady has already vanished to nothing.”
You can read his sketch in full here:
Pie lady Truss’s speech took an inevitable turn towards insanity | Tom Peck
To those who tried to dismiss the prime minister’s potential, for your country’s sake – why didn’t you try harder?
Pound falls 2 per cent against dollar
The pound has now fallen more than 2 per cent today, dropping as low as $1.124 before rallying slightly – down from a three-week high in early trading this morning of around $1.147.
The cost of borrowing also continues to rise, with 30-year gilt yields having risen to more than 4.3 per cent – edging closer towards the 5 per cent at which the Bank of England was forced to step in last week to soothe volatility in a market analysts warned was becoming “untradeable”.
Councils ‘have no room to move’ and ‘are completely overwhelmed’
Councils are struggling to be sustainable under the current funding settlement and more money is needed to avoid cuts to services, the Tory chair of the Local Government Association has said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, councillor James Jamieson, a Tory councillor in Bedfordshire, said: “The real issue is the sheer pressure that we’re under with an increase in demand for our services, and with the inflationary impact on our budgets.
“It’s just so, so significant that even where there are, and no doubt there are some small efficiency savings, but we’ve been pushing them out for the last 10 years, they are completed overwhelmed by this almost tidal wave that we see.”
Asked if councils are struggling to be sustainable under the current funding formula, he said “yes”, warning “we have no room to move” on some rising costs, and warned around 90 per cent of their services are statutory.
“We are very much finding ourselves between a rock and hard place,” he said, adding: “What we would like to see is our income to grow something close to or in line with inflation, because that’s what our cost base is doing.
“And the alternative is shutting libraries, not collecting your bins, looking at leisure centres, the parks, the roads, street cleaning, it’s museums, it’s environmental health … most of our budget goes on safeguarding children, looking after the elderly, helping the homeless. We don’t want to be in the position where we are unable to do that.”
Fresh confusion as foreign secretary can’t say when Kwarteng fiscal plan will come
James Cleverly has admitted he cannot say when the government will reveal its fiscal plan aimed at reassuring spooked markets.
Following a day of confusion over whether the plan might be brought forward, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said he had not shifted plans for his announcement on 23 November.
But asked if 23 November was the right date, the foreign secretary told GB News: “I can’t confirm exactly what the date is, the chancellor will do so.”
Our political correspondent Adam Forrest reports:
James Cleverly can’t say when Kwarteng fiscal plan will come
Cabinet minister can say ‘exactly’ when crucial borrowing details will be set out amid uncertainty
Pound tumbles and borrowing costs rise slightly after Truss speech
The value of the pound fell by more than 1 per cent in the wake of Liz Truss’s speech to the annual Tory conference.
At 2pm, the pound was at $1.1315, down from $1.1436 at the previous close, after hitting a three-week high against the dollar in early trading on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the cost of borrowing increased slightly. Yields on 30-year gilts – government bonds which the Bank of England are buying in order to stabilise the market – had risen to 4.17 per cent at the time of typing, up from a dip of 4.09 per cent just after midday, which was higher than yesterday’s close at 4.03.
Tory team can’t say whether party had permission to use song
Liz Truss personally selected M People song ‘Moving On Up’ for her walk-on music, it’s been revealed, after the band’s founder attacked the government for using it.
“There was a range of options and she chose that one,” her press secretary said.
He was unable to say whether the party had asked the band for permission.
“I don’t have detailed knowledge of how the licensing of this stuff works,” he said.
When asked about founder Mike Pickering’s criticism, the press secretary said: “I don’t know who he is.”
Tory MP mistakenly refers to prime minister as Theresa May
Tory MP Lee Anderson has mistaken the prime minister for her predecessor Theresa May, in an interview with ITV News.
Attacking the “gutter press” for “lurking round every corner, trying to cause problems” for the Tories, the Ashfield MP said Liz Truss was “talking the same language as the Red Wall voters”.
Asked whether the PM’s speech contained enough to win over floating voters in his own constituency, Mr Anderson said: “I would hope so. The Red Wall is the Red Wall for a reason – we had Brexit, we had Boris, we had Corbyn three years ago. Now we’ve got Theresa May it’s a different ball game altogether.”
Made aware of his error by ITV, Mr Anderson said: “Yeah, Liz Truss, sorry. My mistake. It’s been a long few days.”
Truss set to meet Macron
Liz Truss is expected to meet French president Emmanuel Macron when she attends a summit of European leaders in Prague on Thursday.
The Prime Minister will travel from a difficult Conservative Party conference in Birmingham to the Czech Republic to attend a meeting of the European Political Community.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister will attend the meeting of European leaders in Prague on Thursday to deliver on the UK’s priorities, including shoring up support for Ukraine, securing long-term energy supplies and tackling migration.”
Alongside the bilateral meeting with Mr Macron, Ms Truss is also expected to meet the Dutch PM Mark Rutte, as well as Czech prime minister Petr Fiala.
Membership of Truss’s ‘anti-growth coalition’ stirs confusion among allies
The question of who exactly is included in Liz Truss’s supposed “anti-growth coalition” appears to be the source of fresh confusion among her own allies.
After No 10 was unable to clarify whether it included celebrity chef Jamie Oliver among the group (see post at 12:42), levelling up minister Paul Scully was asked on BBC Radio 4 who Ms Truss was referring to as “vested interests dressed up as think-tanks”.
“I’m not too sure to be honest, yeah I wasn’t sure,” Mr Scully admitted.
Questioned over what Ms Truss meant by suggesting there was further “disruption” to come, Mr Scully said: “You’ll see in the next few weeks a number of statements, discussions … and then the chancellor will set out what we’re talking about in terms of migration, childcare, about planning, about regulation for businesses, digital take-up, agriculture and farming and these kind of things.”
Referencing a plan for new “investment zones”, Mr Scully added: “We’ll be able to strip away some of the planning rules and regulations and alike in exchange for tax benefits for the companies that are locating there, if it’s an economic thing rather than housebuilding, and significant tax incentives for the councils themselves.”
Climate policy heading wrong way, say Greenpeace protesters
Greenpeace protesters who disrupted Liz Truss’s speech said they were hopeful that the Government would remain committed to net zero, but policy was currently heading in the wrong direction.
They accused the new Prime Minister of “shredding” the promises made in the 2019 manifesto.
Rebecca Newsom, one of the protesters and Greenpeace head of public affairs in the UK, said: “In a healthy democracy, people should get the government programme they voted for, but Liz Truss is putting most of it through the shredder.”
Greenpeace policy officer Ami McCarthy, also on the protest, said: “People voted for strong action on climate, a fracking moratorium, world-leading environmental protections, and tackling poverty and inequality.
“What they’re getting instead is fracking, a potential bonfire of rules on wildlife and nature protection, and now the prospect of benefit cuts.
“Broken promise after broken promise, the Prime Minister is quickly turning her party’s manifesto into the longest piece of false advertising ever written.
“Many will be left wondering whether her Government answers to the public or to the hedge fund managers, right-wing think tanks and fossil fuel giants that are cheering it on.”
Ms Truss tried to make a joke of the protest as she continued with her speech, telling party members at the conference: “Now, later on in my speech, my friends, I am going to talk about the anti-growth coalition but I think they arrived in the hall a bit too early.”
