Liz Truss is expected to be announced as the new prime minister today after a gruelling six-week leadership campaign.
Both the foreign secretary and Rishi Sunak have spent weeks traversing the country and taking part in hustings in a bid to win over the estimated 200,000 party members charged with choosing Boris Johnson’s successor.
Voting closed on Friday and the contest will draw to an end when the formal announcement is made at 12:30pm by 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady.
Ahead of the results, several reports have suggested Ms Truss is strongly considering freezing energy bills to help households through the cost-of-living crisis, with The Times suggesting the package could be on the scale of the Covid furlough scheme introduced by Mr Sunak while chancellor.
The new leader is expected to make a speech following the leadership announcement, before spending the rest of the day finalising their choices for Cabinet and wider ministerial roles and writing their first prime ministerial speech, before heading to Balmoral to be appointed on Tuesday.
New PM ‘could do a lot worse’ than adopt Labour’s policy of freezing energy bills
Boris Johnson’s successor could “do a lot worse” than to U-turn to adopt Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills, Labour’s shadow justice secretary has said.
Steve Reed told BBC Breakfast: “It’s extraordinary that one of them will walk into Downing Street today with no idea what they’re going to do to help people. Now Labour’s winning the battle of ideas here, Labour’s come up with a fully-costed plan.
“They could do a lot worse than U-turn on what they’ve said in refusing help to families and look at what we’ve proposed and adopt it, as they have many times this year”.
The Labour MP for Croydon North dismissed the argument that the candidates require full Treasury briefings before announcing their plans to ease the cost-of-living crisis.
“One of them is the foreign secretary, one of them was the chancellor. They have all the access they needed to the books; they have chosen to sit on their hands and do nothing and neither of them have come up with any plans. The only plan on the table right now is Labour’s,” he said.
Speaking to Sky News, Tory former chief whip Mark Harper welcomed frontrunner Ms Truss’s commitment to announce support with energy bills within a week, saying: “The important thing a significant package of support is on its way.”
Andy Gregory5 September 2022 07:57
Next PM should appoint a broad Cabinet, Tory MP says
Tory former chief whip Mark Harper has called on the party’s next leader to appoint people to their Cabinet from all wings of the party, telling Sky News: “The election campaign has been quite bruising.
“From my experience as a former government chief whip in terms of managing the parliamentary party, if you’ve got a very broadly-based cabinet, so accounting for people, not just people who have supported the winner, then that’s most likely to have a unified and cohesive parliamentary party.
“And I think given all of the challenges facing the winner of this contest this winter, I think that would be the best way of a successful outcome for the Conservative Party and the Conservative government.”
Asked about reports of plotting against Liz Truss if she becomes the next prime minister, the Rishi Sunak-supporting MP said that would not be “helpful” and urged his colleagues to “all get behind the winner”.
Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has taken a look at who could potentially be in Ms Truss’s Cabinet if she enters No 10 this week as expected:
Top contenders for Tory frontrunner Liz Truss’s cabinet if she replaces Boris Johnson
Firm favourite to become PM has been busy drawing up her top team ahead of expected coronation
Andy Gregory5 September 2022 07:43
House of Lords to make amendments to flagship energy bill
The House of Lords might suggest potential amendments today to the government’s flagship energy bill in a bid to protest poorest households from soaring energy prices.
The Lords returns today after the summer recess, and peers are reportedly likely to advocate for changes to the legislation as the bill enters its committee stage.
While several NGOs have advocated for measures to insulate more homes and help the most vulnerable heat their home, some of the amendments are likely to be blocked by the government, reported The Guardian.
This comes even as researchers warned that about two-thirds of households could be in fuel poverty with millions forced to make a choice between heating and eating.
Liz Truss, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, is reportedly considering freezing energy bills in a bid to ease the burden on households this winter.
Having made tax cuts a key priority during her leadership campaign, Ms Truss has been tight-lipped about what kind of support package she might introduce as the UK faces the prospect of soaring energy bills and a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
But reports in The Daily Telegraph and The Times on Monday suggest Ms Truss will likely introduce an energy bills freeze in some form.
Namita Singh5 September 2022 07:30
Replace consumer price cap with ‘free basic energy’, suggests think tank
The government should pay some portion of the energy bills for every household in Britain in a bid to tackle the financial crunch faced by the poorest families, suggested a report.
The New Economic Foundation think tank has advised replacing consumer price caps for gas and electricity bills with a system of “free basic energy” by the beginning of next year, reported The Guardian.
In their radical plan set out to tackle the rising energy bills, the group suggested the government could pay for a certain level of energy bills and charge higher prices than usual if the limit is crossed, thereby aiding the country’s net-zero goals as well.
Industry leaders are floating ideas for the consideration of the new prime minister, as the energy regulator Ofgem confirmed that the average household’s yearly bill could rise from £1,971 to £3,549.
One in 10 homeowners have said they plan to light fires or stoves more often in their homes to avoid central heating amid soaring energy prices.
The study by Aviva also showed that 92 per cent of people are looking towards alternative ways to keep themselves warm as they seek to reduce their bills.
The Liberal Democrats have said they will propose legislation this week which would freeze energy bills, preventing the price cap rise due in October.
Namita Singh5 September 2022 07:15
ICYMI: Truss warns of unpopular decisions as she defends tax cuts for wealthy
Liz Truss has warned she will make unpopular decisions as prime minister and defended tax cuts that benefit the wealthy as “fair”, despite growing calls to ditch them.
She pledged immediate action will be taken on soaring household bills if, as expected, she wins the keys to No 10 on Monday, with the promise of a plan within her first week.
But despite the gathering storm clouds and warnings that the costs of her proposed response to the crisis could run to tens of billions of pounds, she said: “Britain has been through worse, frankly.”
And she warned the public, who did not get a say in who becomes the new prime minister, that there would be difficult decisions ahead and “not all those decisions will be popular”.
Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Truss warns she will make unpopular decisions as PM and defends tax cuts for wealthy
On cost of living crisis the likely new prime minister says ‘Britain has been through worse’
Namita Singh5 September 2022 06:58
ICYMI: Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’
Lord Harrington, who was appointed refugees minister in the wake of the war in Ukraine, has quit the government before a new leader takes over.
In government since March, Lord Harrington stressed his resignation is no reflection on either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak and he instead feels it is the right time to leave a “temporary” position.
Boris Johnson was among those to pay tribute to his efforts, with the outgoing prime minister saying that the government would miss his “wealth of experience”.
Lord Harrington, who thanked Mr Johnson for appointing him, said his decision means the next prime minister can “save” on a ministerial position.
Refugees minister quits government and declares his job ‘essentially complete’
Lord Harrington says process now in place ‘that means there won’t necessarily be need for minister like myself’
Namita Singh5 September 2022 06:43
What’s next for Boris Johnson and divided Tories?
“I think he honestly believes that it is churlish for us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else,” wrote Martin Hammond, Boris Johnson’s teacher at Eton, in a letter to Johnson’s father Stanley, as Andrew Gimson’s biography records. When historians make the first stab at Johnson’s political legacy, the words will not be very different.
Some Tories judge what they called their “deal with the devil” worth it. After all, Johnson did “get Brexit done” (apart from the bits, such as the Northern Ireland protocol, that are still not “done”).
Yet his political epitaph will not just be about Brexit, because he was driven out of Downing Street in ignominy after repeatedly breaking the rules on standards in public life, writes our political columnist Andrew Grice.
The end of the party? What’s next for Boris Johnson and divided Tories
The Conservative Party has torn itself – and its record – apart during the leadership battle, writes Andrew Grice. Can it come back through the cost of living crisis to regain credibility? And does Boris Johnson still harbour hopes of a Churchillian comeback?
Namita Singh5 September 2022 06:28
Scottish government pledges fiscal review two weeks after UK emergency budget
The Scottish government will lay out the results of a fiscal review within two weeks of a UK government emergency budget, John Swinney has said.
Ministers pledged to undertake a budget review in response to the cost-of-living crisis, in a bid to identify funding from other spending areas that can ease the pressure on households.
Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak could hold an emergency budget or other fiscal event after taking office in an attempt to tackle the crisis and the deputy first minister pledged to act quickly after Downing Street plans are announced.
First minister Nicola Sturgeon will publish her plans for the next year in the Programme for Government on Tuesday, with Mr Swinney due to give an update on the budget review and its impact on public sector pay the following day.
“This year’s Programme for Government is set against a backdrop of economic upheaval that has not been seen for a generation, already impacting people, businesses, public services and the third sector across Scotland,” the deputy first minister said.
“For that reason, this is a different Programme for government – one that is subject to the outcome of our Emergency Budget Review and its implications for our budget for 2023-24.
“The UK government’s existing spending plans, coupled with Bank of England inflation forecasts, mean that the Scottish government’s funding will fall by 4.5 per cent in real terms next year.
“If inflation rises significantly higher, the resources available to us will erode even further at the very time when costs are increasing.
“With the new prime minister due to be appointed this week, it is vital that the UK government now acts decisively to tackle this ongoing crisis.”
Namita Singh5 September 2022 06:13
Johnson expected to skip Conservative Party conference
Boris Johnson is reportedly set to skip the Conservative Party conference in October, after he leaves Downing Street.
The Telegraph reported that Mr Johnson, traditionally the star of the party gathering, will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors David Cameron and Theresa May, if he does decide to avoid the conference in Birmingham.
Mr Johnson, who will be replaced as Conservative leader today and step down as prime minister on Tuesday, leaves power with his closest allies not ruling out a future bid for the highest office.
Former chief of staff and close aide Lord Udny-Lister said that Mr Johnson will be “very sad” as he travels to Balmoral to formally offer his resignation to the Queen.
But he also told Sky News that he would “never say never” about a return for Mr Johnson.
“He is going to be watching all this and if something happens in the future, as you said, the ball comes loose in the scrum, then anything can happen.
“I’m not going to predict. All I’m saying is, I would never write him off.”
Boris Johnson expected to skip Conservative Party conference
Mr Johnson, who will be replaced as Conservative leader on Monday, leaves power with his closest allies not ruling out a future tilt at No 10.
Namita Singh5 September 2022 05:58
Cost of after-school clubs has risen more than £800 a year since 2010, says Labour
Labour has accused the government of “failing children and families” as it said the cost of after-school clubs has risen by more than £800 a year since the Conservatives came into power.
According to analysis from the opposition, the price of after-school childcare for primary age children has increased 1.5 times faster than other items such as food and clothing since 2010.
Labour says the average family is now spending more on after-school clubs than on their weekly food shop.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson warned the steep cost of after-school childcare, in addition to soaring food, fuel and housing costs, could force parents out of work and leave more and more children missing out on these activities and time with friends.
She called on the government to match Labour’s recovery plan, which commits to breakfast and after-school clubs for all, supporting parents struggling to balance rising bills and prioritising children’s learning.
“As parents battle rising costs of living, soaring childcare costs are making life ever harder for families,” she said. “For many the return to school simply means yet more bills for parents to pay.”
Labour: Cost of after-school clubs has risen more than £800 a year since 2010
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson called on the Government to match her party’s recovery plan.
Namita Singh5 September 2022 05:24
Kaynak: briturkish.com