Liz Truss has insisted that her government has the “right plan” for the economy as she spoke publicly for the first time since her chancellor’s mini-budget threw the markets into turmoil.
The prime minister said she needed to take “urgent action to get our economy growing” on a round of combative interviews with regional BBC radio stations. She said had taken “controversial, difficult decisions” but added: “I’m prepared to do that as prime minister because what’s important to me is that we get our economy moving.”
She admitted “we’re facing very, very difficult economic times”, but insisted those pressures were global and caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “And of course a lot of the measures that we’ve announced won’t happen overnight, and then we won’t see the growth overnight,” she said. “But what’s important is that we’re putting this country on a better trajectory for the long term. Of course there were elements of controversy, as there always are.”
Kwasi Kwarteng arrives in Darlington where he was meeting local businesses today. The chancellor’s mini-budget on Friday was followed by turmoil on the financial markets
OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA
She rejected calls for a U-turn, insisting her plan was the right one. In an interview on BBC television, she said: “We are facing a global economic crisis brought about by Putin’s war and what was right was Britain took decisive action to help people get through what is going to be a difficult winter.”
The Bank of England announced a £65 billion emergency intervention to avert an economic crisis in the aftermath of the government’s mini-budget. In a highly unusual move that economists warned could fuel inflation, the central bank pledged to buy billions of pounds of government debt to prevent people’s pensions being put at risk.
Yields on government bonds were rising this morning as the pound and equity markets weakened. Rising yields are linked to increases in the cost of mortgage payments and government borrowing.
It warned of a “material risk” to Britain’s financial stability after Kwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting measures. Conservative MPs, including some cabinet ministers, expressed concern about the government’s handling of the economy amid calls for the chancellor to abandon his plans to abolish the 45p rate of income tax.
The Bank intervened after warnings from pension funds that they could be hours from having to make major fire sales of assets at knock-down prices, putting promised pensions in jeopardy. Kwarteng’s measures were affecting the trade in gilts, a government bond that is used to service pension funds.
The prime minister has rejected calls from some Tory MPs to dismiss the chancellor.
11 minutes ago
4.00pm
Radio interference throws PM’s message
Rima Ahmed of BBC Radio Leeds put Liz Truss on the spot this morning
After a week of market turmoil in the wake of Friday’s mini-budget, the prime minister was determined to land two messages (writes Oliver Wright).
The first was that the UK’s present economic travails were the result of a “global” crisis caused by “Putin’s war”. The second was to hammer home government support for families through the energy price cap. That was until Rima Ahmed, BBC Radio Leeds presenter, asked: “Since your chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, the pound has dropped to a record low, the IMF has said that you should re-evaluate your policies and the Bank of England has had to spend £65 billion to prop up the markets because of what they describe as a ‘material risk’. Where’ve you been?”
After a long pause, Truss replied: “Well, I think we’ve got to remember the situation we were facing this winter. We were facing a situation where people could have had to pay energy bills of up to £6,000, where inflation was increasing and where we were looking at an economic slowdown which would have had a huge impact right across the country, including in places like Leeds”
It was an exchange played out across interviews from Yorkshire to Kent.
43 minutes ago
3.28pm
Truss ‘misleading public’ with £2,500 fuel bill claim
Liz Truss has been challenged over her assertion that households will pay no more than £2,500
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
Liz Truss repeatedly sought to turn attention away from market turmoil and back to the government’s promise to freeze energy bills, during her round of interviews today (Chris Smyth writes).
But the prime minister has been accused of repeatedly misleading listeners about the nature of her policy after wrongly claiming on several radio stations that “nobody is paying fuel bills of more than £2,500”.
The confusion arises because the “energy price guarantee” she introduced, like the previous energy price cap, neither caps nor guarantees bills. Instead it is a cap on the unit price of gas and electricity: those who use more, pay more, but those who use less, pay less.
The £2,500 figure refers to the average household and some will may far more: the government’s own estimates show that people living in a detached house will pay around £3,300 under the energy price guarantee. But those living in purpose built flats will pay £1,750. In one BBC interview she did refer to a “typical fuel bill”.
The claims have infuriated the fact-checking organisation Full Fact, which had already urged Truss to correct the record after she made the same claim on CNN on Sunday.
Will Moy, its chief executive, said: “We wrote to the prime minister about getting this wrong only yesterday. The government’s energy plans will affect every household in Britain this winter. And yet Liz Truss has repeatedly misled listeners this morning”.
He said that Truss “must now publicly correct her mistake to make sure people are not misled about their energy prices and hit with unexpected and unaffordable energy bills this winter”.
1 hour ago
3.10pm
PM backs Whitehall efficiency drive
Liz Truss has said there are “plenty of areas” where government savings could be made as ministers are told to balance the books.
Chris Philp, chief secretary to the Treasury, earlier confirmed existing spending limits would remain, despite rising costs.
The prime minister defended the position, telling broadcasters: “It is absolutely right that we always need to get value for taxpayers’ money. Every pound we take from somebody is a pound we could be spending on their future, on what they need to support themselves.”
Philp is set to write to departments telling them to make efficiency savings, despite Truss saying during the Conservative leadership race that was was “not planning public service reductions”.
Speaking today, Truss said: “There are always ways that we can organise things more efficiently. What I want to make sure is that taxpayer money is focused on frontline services, on getting our GP appointments, making sure people can see a doctor, making sure we deliver on our road projects, all of those things people rely on us for.
“There are plenty of areas the government can become more efficient.”
2 hours ago
2.10pm
Pensions will be protected under triple lock
Older people saw their pensions rise way below inflation in April but the government has promised to restore the triple lock protection
GETTY IMAGES
People on benefits face seeing their payments squeezed next year but Liz Truss is pledging to protect pensioners (Chris Smyth writes).
Ministers are reviewing the commitment made under Boris Johnson to increase benefits in line with inflation next year as they scramble for departmental savings to reassure financial markets spooked by last week’s mini-budget.
Chris Philp, chief secretary to the Treasury, said increasing benefits by less than inflation was “under consideration”.
However, government sources stressed that pensioners will see their incomes rise with inflation, currently at 10 per cent, as the prime minister sticks with a pledge to keep the triple lock designed to protect the value of state pensions.
In April benefits were increased by 3.1 per cent when inflation was 9 per cent, but Johnson’s government promised the squeeze would be corrected next year. Benefits are typically increased in April by the consumer prices index measure of inflation the previous September.
In May Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, said that “benefits will be uprated by this September’s consumer prices index”, saying this would represent “a very significant increase in benefits next year”. Last month CPI stood at 9.9 per cent.
However, Truss’s team now say that it would be “irresponsible not to consider the options” and “everything is on the table”. They stress that no decision has yet been taken, with formal discussions on benefits due to begin once September’s inflation figures are received next month.
Philp, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told ITV’s Peston that Sunak’s commitment was “under consideration and I’m obviously not going to make policy announcements . . . on live TV, it’s going to be considered in the normal way.”
But government sources insisted that this review did not apply to the triple lock promise that state pensions rise with the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent. Government sources stressed today that “we’re sticking to the triple lock” after Truss said during the leadership campaign that she was fully committed to the pledge.
3 hours ago
1.10pm
Gloom in City as FTSE 250 dives 330 points
The Bank of England intervened in an attempt to stabilise the markets yesterday
AMER GHAZZAL/ALAMY
The brief rally inspired by the Bank of England’s £65 billion bailout of the gilt market appears to have run out of steam. Less than 24 hours after Threadneedle Street fired up the money-printing presses, one veteran City trader told The Times they had “rarely seen sentiment so bad” (Simon Freeman writes).
While the dollar-dominated FTSE 100 fell by about 1 per cent, to dip back under 7000 points, it was on the more domestically focused FTSE 250 that the loss of confidence is most stark.
A drop of 330 points, or 1.9 per cent, sent the mid-cap index below 17,000 — a figure not reached since the day in November 2020 when Pfizer and BioNTech announced successful trials of the first western Covid-19 vaccine. Retailers, housebuilders and hospitality groups were all in the red.
The pound, too, gave up yesterday’s gains, with sterling trading down by as much as 0.9 per cent to $1.076 against a resurgent dollar. It was off a fraction against the euro at €1.11.
Borrowing costs have crept back up, with the yield on the 30-year gilt edging above 4 per cent, having posted its steepest drop on record on Wednesday. The benchmark ten-year gilt yield rose 15 basis points this morning to 4.15 per cent, after falling by almost 50 basis points yesterday.
Russ Mould, investment director at the trading platform AJ Bell, said: “The main priority is bringing inflation under control, yet the government’s actions in its mini-budget serve to make inflation even worse, given they’ve sent the pound tumbling.
“That will make it even more expensive to buy goods and services from abroad, leading to the prospect of even greater interest rates hikes in the future. Liz Truss implies that painful decisions need to be taken, but for many people the current situation is a catastrophe already.”
3 hours ago
12.20pm
Can Truss and Kwarteng weather the storm?
Conservative MPs reeling from tumult in the markets fear Britain could endure months of financial chaos. However, supporters of the approach taken by Truss and Kwarteng argue the markets will settle and the government will be rewarded with growth for holding its nerve (Henry Zeffman writes).
The prospects for the new government, not to mention the financial security of millions, depend on who is right. Possible scenarios range from markets failing to regain confidence, triggering emergency action on interest rates by the Bank, to Truss and Kwarteng being vindicated as the economy stabilises next year. Either way, their political futures and that of the Conservative government hinge on what plays out.
5 hours ago
10.50am
Tread carefully from now, economist urges ministers
Gerard Lyons, who has advised Liz Truss, had warned that the government should not “spook” the financial markets
JEFF GILBERT/REX FEATURES
Ministers need to “tread very carefully from here”, one of Liz Truss’s favourite economists has warned. Gerard Lyons, who has advised Truss on her economic policy, told Times Radio that the priority needed to be “initially to stabilise markets and expectations as much as possible”.
He said he was “not privy” to what was in the mini-budget before it was announced. “What I’ve been saying in the previous few weeks, privately and publicly, was they needed to be aware of the febrile state of markets, they needed not to spook financial markets and needed to keep financial markets on side,” he said.
“In financial terms, you can’t just reverse things and expect them to get back to where they were.”
Truss told the BBC she would not be reversing the plans. The prime minister insisted that a rise in interest rates was a “global phenomenon” and she believed in “sound money”.
She said: “You don’t get a growing and productive economy by putting taxes up, that’s a reality.”
Truss also suggested food would become cheaper due to the energy bills package announced last week “because farmers, people that produce food, have energy going into their production”.
5 hours ago
10.15am
Fracking will be safe, Truss insists
A fracking exploration site in Lancashire, an area likely to be most affected by the government’s decision to lift the ban on the practice
PA
Any fracking that takes place “will be safe”, Liz Truss insisted, but she was unable to spell out what “local consent” for the drilling of shale gas would mean.
Speaking on BBC Radio Lancashire, the prime minister defended lifting of the ban on fracking. But asked if she had visited a fracking site in Lancashire, where there has been fierce opposition to the practice, she said she was not familiar with a site where there had been controversy.
Truss said: “Fracking is carried out perfectly safely in various parts of the world.”
She took a tough stance on wanting “more homegrown energy” in the UK during the interview broadcast to one of the areas likely to be most affected.
Truss said she would not have used the word “Luddites” to describe those against fracking, a phrase Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, used in the Commons. She said: “I wouldn’t have expressed it like that. I am of the view that we need to have local consent to proceed with projects like fracking.”
But asked what that meant, she said: “Well, the energy secretary will be laying out in more detail exactly what that looks like.” Told by Graham Liver, the presenter, that it sounded like she didn’t know, she added: “There are various detailed issues to be worked through.”
Truss was also tackled about immigration on BBC Radio Kent. Asked if she would stick to the Rwanda policy, she said: “We are and what we will make sure is that UK courts can’t be overruled by the European Court of Human Rights.
“So we are able to deal with a small boats crisis and the home secretary is determined to get on with that.”
6 hours ago
9.50am
Bond yields rise and pound down
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, which moved to stabilise the economy yesterday
YUI MOK/GETTY IMAGES
Yields on government bonds were rising this morning as the pound and equity markets weakened, a day after the Bank of England began an emergency £65 billion bailout intended to stabilise the economy (Simon Freeman writes).
Thirty-year gilt yields, which had surged to 5 per cent in recent days threatening a fire sale by major pension funds, were back above 4.1 per cent. Yields on these long-dated bonds, which rise when bond prices fall, dropped sharply to 3.9 per cent after yesterday’s intervention by the Bank.
Two-year gilt yields, which had fallen back to 4.2 per cent yesterday afternoon, rose by 60 basis points to 4.8 per cent. Rising yields are linked to increases in the cost of mortgage payments and government borrowing.
•What are gilts and why do they matter?
The pound leapt by the most since mid-June immediately after the Bank’s announcement, having reached a record low of $1.0327 on Monday. It was back down against the dollar this morning, falling 1 per cent to $1.0776. The euro also weakened against the dollar to $0.96.
The sell-off in debt markets was mirrored on London’s main indices, where the FTSE 100 was down by 160 points, or 2.3 per cent, to within a whisker of 6850, plunging towards the 18-month low reached earlier this week.
Barratt suffered the worst hit among housebuilders, with its shares down by 11 per cent to 331p amid fears in the property market. A downbeat forecast from Next, considered a bellwether for the high street, sent its own stock down by 10 per cent to 4795p and sent shivers through other big retailers with Sports Direct-owner Frasers Group and Sainsbury’s dropping by about 5 per cent.
On the FTSE 250, whose companies more closely track the UK economy, was down by 425 points, or 2.5 per cent, at 16890. Builders and retailers including Asos, Marks & Spencer and WH Smith saw more than 5 per cent wiped from their market values.
7 hours ago
9.10am
PM denies acting like ‘reverse Robin Hood’
Liz Truss said it “simply isn’t true” that the government was acting like a “reverse Robin Hood”. Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham, the prime minister said the biggest part of the measures announced in the mini-budget last week was help with energy bills.
But throughout her regional broadcast round Truss was faced with questions and clips from listeners which outlined how they were struggling with the cost of living.
Questions for the prime minister from BBC Radio Kent listeners raised by the show’s presenter included: “What on earth were you thinking?”, “How can we ever trust the Conservatives with our economy again?” and “Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?”.
Truss said: “It’s important that we as a government took decisive action to do what we can to grow the economy but also help people with their energy bills, which is the biggest part of the economic package.”
She said: “For too long the debate in this country has been about distribution, rather than how we grow our economy.”
Questioned about the fairness of her plans, Truss said: “It’s not fair to have a recession, it’s not fair to have a town where you’re not getting the investment, it’s not fair if we don’t get high-paying jobs in the future because we’ve got the highest tax burden in 70 years. That’s what’s not fair.”
Asked whether there was evidence of where cutting taxes for the better off would help inequality, she said: “There is plenty of evidence that if you have very high taxes, they lead to lower growth. There is plenty of evidence of that.”
8 hours ago
8.10am
No crisis, says minister
Chris Philp refuses to apologise for the financial turmoil
Chris Philp, chief secretary to the Treasury, denied there was a crisis in the economy. He refused to apologise for the fallout from the government’s mini-budget, and said he would not “get into this post-facto racking-over” of the plans.
Philp stood by his boss Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, and said he should not resign. He told Sky News that government departments would need to find efficiency savings and stick to existing spending limits.
“The efficiency and prioritisation exercise is designed to firstly make absolutely sure we stick to those spending limits and secondly make sure that we are prioritising expenditure, not on anything that is wasteful, but on things that really deliver frontline public services and drive economic growth,” he added.
“We are going to stick rigidly to those spending limits because it is important to be financially responsible.”
8 hours ago
8.10am
Truss at odds with Bank, says Carney
Mark Carney said the mini-budget had added to the turmoil
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
The government is “undercutting” its own economic institutions, the former governor of the Bank of England said this morning as he accused ministers of working at “cross purposes” with the central bank.
Mark Carney, who was governor from 2013 to 2020, said the chancellor’s mini-budget last week contained “unfunded spending and unfunded tax cuts” and had exacerbated turmoil during a turbulent time for the global economy.
Speaking to the BBC, Carney said going ahead with it without the assessment of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility would always lead to serious consequences, especially at a time when inflation is high.
“Unfortunately having a partial budget, in these circumstances — tough global economy, tough financial market position, working at cross purposes with the Bank — has led to quite dramatic moves in financial markets,” he said.
“The message of financial markets is that there is a limit to unfunded spending and unfunded tax cuts in this environment and the price is much higher borrowing costs for the government and mortgage holders and borrowers across the country.”
Carney said the government’s plan should have been subjected to “independent and dare I say expert scrutiny”.
He said: “The message of financial markets is that there is a limit to unfunded spending and unfunded tax cuts in this environment, and the price of those is much higher borrowing costs for the government and for mortgage holders and borrowers up and down the country.”
But he said: “This is an economic crisis. It is a crisis, or a challenge, that can be addressed by policymakers if they choose to address it.”
8 hours ago
8.00am
‘Every major economy affected by issues’
Andrew Griffith said the government was protecting households from global issues
AMER GHAZZAL/ALAMY
Andrew Griffith, the financial secretary to the Treasury, rejected the argument that the fall in the value of the pound and the rising cost of government borrowing had resulted from investors losing confidence in ministers’ handling of the economy. Asked if the government was to blame for the turmoil on the markets, he told Sky News: “We are seeing the same impact of Putin’s war in Ukraine cascading through things like the cost of energy, some of the supply-side implications of that. That’s impacting every major economy where you’re seeing interest rates going up as well.”
When pressed on whether the UK economy was suffering more than other countries, he said: “Every major economy is dealing with exactly these issues.”
Griffith added: “We think they are the right plans because those plans make our economy competitive. That is what is going to allow consumers to benefit. In the meantime, we are protecting every household and every business from the biggest macro shock out there at the moment, which is the cost of energy.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXRpbWVzLmNvLnVrL2FydGljbGUvbGl6LXRydXNzLWJhbmstb2YtZW5nbGFuZC1tYXJrZXRzLXBvdW5kLXBvbGl0aWNzLWxpdmUtZm9sbG93LWxhdGVzdC01YjcyOXN2NznSAQA?oc=5
2022-09-29 14:28:00Z
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