Politics

After his crisis talks with Liz Truss at Chequers, Jeremy Hunt was photographed being driven from the PM’s country retreat sitting in the back of a government car. Earlier, when the new chancellor was asked in a TV interview who was in charge, him or the PM, he insisted it was her. But MPs believe

Just last month Liz Truss told Britons they could “ride out the storm” in her first speech as prime minister – now she has been warned “the game is up” as rumours swirl of plots to oust her. Tory MPs have started to publicly call for Ms Truss to step down, while former chancellor George

The home secretary has unveiled plans for a major crackdown on climate protesters as she pledged to stop demonstrators holding the public “to ransom”. Under the plans, Suella Braverman will give police stronger powers to take a more “proactive” approach when dealing with protests that threaten or cause “serious disruption or a serious adverse impact

Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic vision is not only dead, but that the immediate actions of this administration will be to do almost exactly the opposite of what the prime minister promised during the summer leadership campaign. This was a cold, hard reality check from a chancellor who is being

The new chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said there “were mistakes” in Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget. Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Mr Hunt said: “It was a mistake when we were going to be asking for difficult decisions across the board on tax and spending to cut the rate of tax paid by

Tory MPs appear to be divided over the future of Liz Truss as prime minister following her major U-turn announcement. Ms Truss reversed a key policy to scrap the planned rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% after she sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor. Heated messages were shared in Conservative Party WhatsApp groups after

Kwasi Kwarteng has the prime minister’s complete confidence and will stick to his growth plan, a minister has told Sky News. Greg Hands, the international trade minister, said: “I know the prime minister’s got total confidence in Kwasi Kwarteng. “I’ve worked very closely with Kwasi, he is an incredibly capable person, a very, very bright

The chancellor has insisted he is “not going anywhere” amid the economic turmoil – and when asked if he was about to do a U-turn on corporation tax he said: “Let’s see”. Speaking earlier in the US where he is attending IMF meetings, Kwasi Kwarteng told reporters that he remains “totally focused” on delivering the

Liz Truss has pledged not to cut public spending to balance the books in her first PMQs since the chancellor’s contentious mini-budget – despite a leading economics-focused think tank warning the government is billions short of the sums needed. The prime minister insisted she was “absolutely” not planning public spending reductions, but vowed that taxpayers’

UK government borrowing costs have hit a 20-year high after the Bank of England confirmed its emergency bond-buying programme will end on Friday as planned. On Wednesday morning, it said all temporary and targeted purchases of UK government bonds, known as gilts, would stop. This has been the position throughout and has been “made absolutely

Renewable energy generators and nuclear power plants face having their revenues capped as part of new government legislation. The Energy Prices Bill will be introduced in the Commons on Wednesday to bring into law its plan to help households and businesses with soaring energy costs over the winter and beyond. But late on Tuesday, the

Kwasi Kwarteng has promised his upcoming economic plan will be “relentlessly upbeat” as some of his own MPs seemed doubtful of his direction. Speaking in the Commons for the first time since unveiling his mini-budget, the chancellor would not reveal more detail of his next financial announcement, set for Halloween. But he promised it would

How do you keep a party fresh and maintain political momentum after 15 years in power when public services are struggling and your core aim looks very difficult to achieve? That was Nicola Sturgeon‘s central challenge going into today’s speech, and she responded with attacks on both the Tories and Labour, by announcing new support

MPs will return to Westminster on Tuesday after a chaotic conference season, with the chancellor set to face questions for the first time since the fallout from his mini-budget. Parliament has been in recess for over two weeks to allow the parties to hold their annual political gatherings, but will kick off at 2.30pm with

Liz Truss has handed a government job to a Rishi Sunak ally in a move that appears to signal her intention to bridge the divides in the Tory party. The prime minister appointed Greg Hands as a minister in the Department for International Trade, replacing Conor Burns who was sacked from his post following a

Cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi has warned restive Tory MPs that “dither or delay will end in defeat” as he appealed for unity just over a month after Liz Truss took office. Speaking to Sky News, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster stressed the need for party colleagues to “focus” on delivery or face being