Liz Truss's first cabinet: Who's in and who's out - BBC

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Prime Minister Liz Truss has finished assembling her cabinet team.

We take a look at who is known to be leaving government, and some of the possible new faces.

• New cabinet: Who is in Liz Truss's top team?
• Liz Truss: From teenage Lib Dem to Tory PM
• Kwasi Kwarteng: Chancellor who likes a challenge

Who's in the Cabinet?

In her top team, Truss has appointed:

• Chancellor - Kwasi Kwarteng. He was previously business secretary.
• Home secretary - Suella Braverman
• Foreign secretary - James Cleverly He was previously education secretary
• Deputy prime minister - Therese Coffey
• Health secretary - Coffey, who is a close ally of Truss, also takes this role
• Education secretary - Kit Malthouse
• Defence secretary - Ben Wallace
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, running the Cabinet Office - Nadhim Zahawi. He's also minister for intergovernmental relations and minister for equalities.
• Business, energy and industrial strategy secretary - Jacob Rees-Mogg
• Culture secretary - Michelle Donelan
• Levelling up secretary - Simon Clarke
• Environment secretary - Ranil Jayawardena
• International trade secretary -leadership contender Kemi Badenoch
• Work and pensions secretary - Chloe Smith
• Transport secretary - Anne-Marie Trevelyan
• Justice secretary - Brandon Lewis
• Northern Ireland secretary - Chris Heaton-Harris
• Scotland secretary - Alister Jack
• Wales secretary - Sir Robert Buckland
• COP president - Alok Sharma
• Leader of the Commons, the role that looks after legislation - Penny Mordaunt
• Leader of the Lords - Lord True

Jake Berry - who chairs the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs - is Tory chairman and minister without portfolio, and Wendy Morton is the first Conservative female chief whip.

New Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp, Attorney General Michael Ellis, foreign office minister Vicky Ford and security minister Tom Tugendhat will also attend cabinet.

James Heappey becomes minister for armed forces and veterans, while Graham Stuart is climate minister and Edward Argar is the new paymaster general.

Who's out?

On Monday, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries made it known they would be standing down.

Ms Patel had been expected to be replaced at the Home Office but insisted leaving government was "her choice". Ms Dorries - a prominent figure in the Truss campaign - was asked to stay on, but plans to return to writing novels.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab - who backed Rishi Sunak in the leadership contest - has confirmed he is returning to the backbenches. So too are Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Health Secretary Steve Barclay, Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark, and Northern Ireland Secretary Shailesh Vara.

Reuters

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer, who attended Cabinet, has also been sacked. As has another figure who attended Cabinet, party co-chairman Andrew Stephenson.

Another Sunak supporter - former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove - has said he expects not to be a member of the new government.

It's thought unlikely Rishi Sunak himself will feature in Ms Truss's team - he told the BBC a return to the cabinet was "not something I'm thinking about".

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC's World At One he had been offered a cabinet job but turned it down in favour of staying on the backbenches.

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2022-09-07 00:18:20Z
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Liz Truss becomes UK prime minister and turns to £100bn energy package - Financial Times

Liz Truss has taken office as Britain’s new prime minister and will on Tuesday finalise a package that could cost more than £100bn to address the UK’s energy crisis and protect households and business.

The emergency measures, which will lead to a sharp increase in government borrowing, are the priority for the new administration. Truss was appointed by Queen Elizabeth at the monarch’s Balmoral estate in Scotland on Tuesday after beating her rival Rishi Sunak for the Conservative party leadership.

Her plan would involve capping household energy bills at about £2,500 for the next two winters. This is larger than the current cap of £1,971 although consumers will also receive a previously announced one-off payment of £400 to help offset price rises.

The Truss plan will shield households from surging gas and electricity prices. The cap had previously been scheduled to leap to £3,549 next month with a projected increase to above £6,000 in 2023.

Truss’s plan for households is mooted to cost about £90bn and would be funded by government borrowing, rather than as taxpayer-backed loans to energy companies to be recouped through higher bills over 10 to 20 years.

Truss’s team is still finalising separate measures to protect businesses from potential ruin. “That’s the part of the package that’s most fluid,” said one person close to the discussions.

The business element, which is being drawn up by Jacob Rees-Mogg, expected to be the new business secretary, could add tens of billions of pounds to the final bill. “It will be extraordinarily huge,” said one ally of the new prime minister.

Truss, a small-state, low-tax Conservative by instinct, will thus make her first act in Downing Street a massive state intervention in the energy market.

The new prime minister’s team has taken the view that since governments can borrow more cheaply than energy companies, the rescue package should be treated as government debt.

“If it was done as loans the whole thing would have been more expensive and you’d have had to start explaining how the loans would be repaid, by whom and over what timescale,” said one person briefed on the plan.

Allies of Truss noted that the precise cost of the scheme was dependent on the movement of wholesale gas prices in the next 18 months, with the taxpayer exposed to big further increases.

Under the plans, the government would subsidise the wholesale cost of gas, allowing suppliers to cap the price of energy to households and businesses.

One senior official confirmed that Truss’s team was drawing up the plans ahead of a potential announcement on Thursday: “There will be a cap, freeze or guarantee on the wholesale gas market,” he said.

Truss will address the nation as PM for the first time in a speech from Downing Street at about 4pm, after which she will begin to name her cabinet.

The rescue package will be a huge challenge for Britain’s straitened public finances and for Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to be named chancellor, since Truss has also promised tens of billions of pounds of tax cuts.

Boris Johnson’s family, political colleagues, staff and supporters applaud during his speech on Tuesday © Neil Hall/EPA/Shutterstock

Ahead of the transition of power, outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson gave a defiant speech outside Downing Street, reeling off a list of his administration’s achievements. But he promised to give his wholehearted support to the new Truss administration.

“I’m like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote, obscure corner of the Pacific,” he said.

“Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough and will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.”

Some historians believe that Cincinnatus — despite his famous plough quote — later made a comeback as ruler, a fact that classics graduate Johnson will have been aware of.

Johnson did not dwell on the host of complex dilemmas facing his successor, which range from soaring inflation and an expected recession to a wave of strikes, or his own personal conduct as prime minister.

Instead, he chose to focus on positive points, saying that private sector investment was “flooding in” and unemployment was at its lowest level for half a century. “We got this economy moving again, despite the opposition and the naysayers.”

He declared he had left the economy strong enough to enable the new administration to give people “the cash they need” to get through the energy crisis.

“If Putin thinks he can succeed by bullying or blackmailing the British people, he is utterly deluded,” added Johnson.

He said his government had “got Brexit done”, carried out the fastest Covid-19 vaccine rollout in Europe, started work on high-speed rail lines and delivered early supplies of weapons to the Ukrainian government soon after Russia’s invasion.

Johnson could not resist a final dig at the Tory MPs who had brought him down in July despite him winning a vote of confidence early in the year.

“The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race . . . they changed the rules halfway through, but never mind that now.”

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2022-09-06 14:28:08Z
1552298007

Liz Truss becomes UK prime minister and turns to £100bn energy package - Financial Times

Liz Truss has taken office as Britain’s new prime minister and will on Tuesday finalise a package that could cost more than £100bn to address the UK’s energy crisis and protect households and business.

The emergency measures, which will lead to a sharp increase in government borrowing, are the priority for the new administration. Truss was appointed by Queen Elizabeth at the monarch’s Balmoral estate in Scotland on Tuesday after beating her rival Rishi Sunak for the Conservative party leadership.

Her plan would involve capping household energy bills at around £2,500 for the next two winters. This is larger than the current cap of £1,971 although consumers will also receive a previously announced one-off payment of £400 to help offset price rises.

The Truss plan will shield households from surging gas and electricity prices. The cap had previously been scheduled to leap to £3,549 next month with a projected increase to above £6,000 in 2023.

Truss’s plan for households is mooted to cost about £90bn and would be funded by government borrowing, rather than as taxpayer-backed loans to energy companies to be recouped through higher bills over 10 to 20 years.

Truss’s team is still finalising separate measures to protect businesses from potential ruin. “That’s the part of the package that’s most fluid,” said one person close to the discussions.

The business element, which is being drawn up by Jacob Rees-Mogg, expected to be the new business secretary, could add tens of billions of pounds to the final bill. “It will be extraordinarily huge,” said one ally of the new prime minister.

Truss, a small-state, low-tax Conservative by instinct, will thus make her first act in Downing Street a massive state intervention in the energy market.

The new prime minister’s team has taken the view that since governments can borrow more cheaply than energy companies, the energy rescue package should be treated as government debt.

“If it was done as loans the whole thing would have been more expensive and you’d have had to start explaining how the loans would be repaid, by whom and over what timescale,” said one person briefed on the plan.

Allies of Truss noted that the precise cost of the scheme was dependent on the movement of wholesale gas prices in the next 18 months, with the taxpayer exposed to big further increases.

Under the plans, the government would subsidise the wholesale cost of gas, allowing suppliers to cap the price of energy to households and businesses.

One senior official confirmed that Truss’s team was drawing up the plans ahead of a potential announcement on Thursday: “There will be a cap, freeze or guarantee on the wholesale gas market,” he said.

Truss will address the nation as PM for the first time in a speech from Downing Street at about 4pm, after which she will begin to name her cabinet.

The rescue package will be a huge challenge for Britain’s straitened public finances and for Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to be named chancellor, since Truss has also promised tens of billions of pounds of tax cuts.

Boris Johnson’s family, political colleagues, staff and supporters applaud during his speech on Tuesday © Neil Hall/EPA/Shutterstock

Ahead of the transition of power, outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson gave a defiant speech outside Downing Street, reeling off a list of his administration’s achievements. But he promised to give his wholehearted support to the new Truss administration.

“I’m like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote, obscure corner of the Pacific,” he said.

“Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough and will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.”

Some historians believe that Cincinnatus — despite his famous plough quote — later made a comeback as ruler, a fact that classics graduate Johnson will have been aware of.

Johnson did not dwell on the host of complex dilemmas facing his successor, which range from soaring inflation and an expected recession to a wave of strikes, or his own personal conduct as prime minister.

Instead, he chose to focus on positive points, saying that private sector investment was “flooding in” and unemployment was at its lowest level for half a century. “We got this economy moving again, despite the opposition and the naysayers.”

He declared he had left the economy strong enough to enable the new administration to give people “the cash they need” to get through the energy crisis.

“If Putin thinks he can succeed by bullying or blackmailing the British people, he is utterly deluded,” added Johnson.

He said his government had “got Brexit done”, carried out the fastest Covid-19 vaccine rollout in Europe, started work on high-speed rail lines and delivered early supplies of weapons to the Ukrainian government soon after Russia’s invasion.

Johnson could not resist a final dig at the Tory MPs who had brought him down in July despite him winning a vote of confidence early in the year.

“The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race . . . they changed the rules halfway through, but never mind that now.”

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2022-09-06 14:16:10Z
1552298007

UK weather: Travel delays and flooding likely as thunderstorm warning declared - Sky News

Travel disruption is expected today for parts of England and Wales that find themselves under a yellow thunderstorm warning.

The Met Office says delays to train services are likely, while driving conditions could be treacherous.

Flooding is possible, with up to 80mm of rain tipped to fall in three hours in some places, and there's a risk of damage to buildings.

The warning covers parts of England stretching from Devon to north of Stoke-on-Trent, and spans much of Wales, including Cardiff.

It lasts from 2pm today until 2am on Tuesday.

Get the five-day forecast where you are

The Met Office warns:

• Driving conditions are likely to be affected by spray, standing water, hail and gusty winds, leading to longer journey times by car and bus
• Some flooding of a few homes and businesses likely, leading to some damage to buildings or structures
• Delays to some train services are likely
• Probably some damage to a few buildings and structures from either lightning strikes or gusty winds
• Some short term loss of power and other services is likely

Met Office spokesperson Oli Claydon said the conditions should clear by the weekend, but said there could be an unsettled few days beyond the timescale of the thunderstorm warning.

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He explained: "The main factor leading our weather in the next few days and indeed through the week is an area of low pressure that's coming to the west of the UK.

"And it sits there through the week, very slowly moving eastward.

"From that area of low pressure we'll get a number of fronts that are sort of spinning off it, as well as the thunderstorms which are being pushed up from the south.

"We've also got a cold front that's moving eastward off of that low pressure, bringing further rain as well."

Read more:
What happens during a drought - and how can you help?
Why 40C is deadlier in the UK than it is in other countries

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23:52

The Climate Show with Tom Heap

With summer officially over, the conditions represent a stark change from the prolonged dry conditions seen during recent months.

The Met Office confirmed last week that England had just experienced its joint hottest summer on record, with temperatures having climbed above 40C for the first time.

Britons have been warned that future summers are likely to be longer and drier because of climate change.

Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday, and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

All on Sky News, on the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.

The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.

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2022-09-05 13:42:34Z
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New Prime Minister Liz Truss expected to freeze energy bills - BBC

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New Prime Minister Liz Truss used her victory speech to pledge to "deliver on the energy crisis" by dealing with bills as well as supplies.

A freeze on energy bills is understood to be one of a number of options being worked up in Whitehall to help struggling households to cope with the soaring cost of gas and electricity.

Energy industry sources expect the government to back freezing bills.

Ms Truss won out against rival Rishi Sunak with 57% of party member votes.

"I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply," she said.

In response, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "There can be no justification for not freezing energy prices.

"There's a political consensus that needs to happen. She needs to ask the question how she's going to pay for that. Labour made it clear, it needs to be a windfall tax on oil and gas companies."

Ms Truss's team is understood to have been working on a support package for energy bills "for weeks". An announcement on what they will do is pencilled in for this Thursday.

"Lots of measures have been considered, some have progressed and some have not" a source said. Her team have not denied they might introduce a freeze on energy bills.

There have been multiple meetings between the government and the energy industry.

Nadhim Zahawi, the current chancellor who is expected to stay on in another role, is understood to have been involved in conversations with industry leaders about the plan on a recent trip to the US.

Business groups welcomed Ms Truss's appointment but urged her to take "big bold action" to help firms who, unlike households, are not protected by an energy price cap.

Federation of Small Businesses chairman Martin McTague said soaring energy bills "must be addressed urgently."

CBI director general, Tony Danker, said: "The exceptional circumstances we now face mean Government must play a central role in supporting our economy.

'Difficult times'

A freeze of the energy price cap - the limit on how much gas and electricity can cost in England, Scotland and Wales - would not necessarily require upfront government funding at the beginning.

In an article for the Financial Times, Ms Truss' close ally, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said a government led by her will borrow more to help people this winter through "exceptionally difficult times" during the energy price shock.

Mr Kwarteng - tipped to be named chancellor by Ms Truss - suggested he would look at the UK's rules on government borrowing and spending - called fiscal rules - to see if they still work for the economy.

The Treasury is allowed to suspend its fiscal rules in the event of a "significant negative shock to the UK economy".

However, Mr Kwarteng sought to reassure markets that the UK had space to borrow more and that it would be done in a "fiscally responsible way".

During the leadership race, Ms Truss said she would reverse a 1.25% rise in National Insurance and would suspend an increase in corporation tax - the measures will cost a combined £30bn.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the National Insurance cut would be of greater benefit to higher earners rather than those on lower income.

During an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Truss said it was fair to give higher earners more money back through tax cuts. and recent Tory policy had failed to grow the economy.

A plan to freeze energy bills for households is striking in its simplicity for those facing a tough winter - until you start considering how it can be funded, and other details.

It is likely to ultimately cost billions of pounds, and that may need to be paid back either through you paying extra on bills for the next decade, or through taxation if the government picks up the tab, or through extra borrowing.

They would seem to be main options, given Liz Truss has been clear that she is not keen on a windfall tax on energy companies' profits.

And, remember, the price cap only covers domestic bills in England, Wales, and Scotland. Will there be anything similar for billpayers in Northern Ireland who have also seen the cost of heating and lighting homes rise? What about small businesses, who are also seeing bills surge?

We should not expect answers yet. We should wait for a policy announcement first.

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, said "simply cutting taxes, cutting National Insurance contributions for example, is not a strategy for growth".

He told the Today programme that these measures would come on top of the billions the government will have to spend to help with energy bills.

"We'll have not just extremely high borrowing in the short run but also additional inflationary pressure," he said.

Last month, Labour said the government should freeze household energy bills, outlining a £29bn plan that would stop the energy price cap going up for all homes.

At the time, Ms Truss dismissed the proposal as a "sticking plaster".

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The Lib Dems have called for a price cap rise in October - which will take the typical household energy bill from £1,971 to £3,549 - to be scrapped. It proposed that the cost be covered by a windfall tax on energy company profits.

Ms Truss did not rule out a freeze, during Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, but there is still a lack of clarity about how it would be funded.

A published version of the industry plan, suggested that to hold down this year's energy payments at £2,000 for a typical household, future bills would have to repay the money.

That would leave payments not far off that level into the next decade, and require a fund of around £90bn.

The government may need to offer some guarantees and alter existing energy industry mechanisms.

Derek Lickorish, chairman of pay-as-you-go energy supplier Utilita, said he and other industry bosses had been calling for a freeze to the energy price cap "for some time".

"We recognise it's going to be very expensive but if we don't the economy is going to crash and consumers won't know what to do, they won't know where to turn to for help," he told the BBC's Today programme.

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2022-09-05 12:28:00Z
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Cannock industrial fire: Reports of explosions - BBC

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Firefighters are tackling a blaze at an industrial site in Staffordshire following reports of explosions.

Homes near Cannock Industrial Centre, on Walkmill Lane, were evacuated after flames broke out at about 06:20 BST.

The fire outside a chemical storage unit has been deemed accidental.

More than 40 firefighters from across the West Midlands and Staffordshire were sent to the scene after more than 60 emergency calls came in from members of the public.

The fire was later brought under control and crews have since been scaled back.

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2022-09-05 09:36:19Z
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Liz Truss promises to set out plan for energy crisis within one week - but refuses to go into detail - Sky News

Liz Truss has promised to unveil a plan to deal with the energy crisis within a week if she becomes prime minister - though she refused to go into any detail on what this might look like.

There have been ever-louder calls in recent weeks for the government to intervene to support the most vulnerable, with energy bills set to rise to around £3,500 this winter for the average household.

The foreign secretary, widely tipped to defeat rival Rishi Sunak when the Tory leadership winner is announced on Monday, told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the UK faces "some very, very serious challenges" which will require immediate action from the government.

Politics hub: Boris Johnson 'may be tempted' to run again

Pressed on what action she will take, Ms Truss said she would act quickly.

She said: "If I'm elected as prime minister, within one week I will make sure there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the issue of energy bills and of long-term supply to put this country on the right footing for winter."

However, she said what she can't do "is tell you exactly what that announcement would be".

More on Boris Johnson

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She added: "We still don't know the outcome of this leadership contest. So, it would be completely wrong."

Throughout the leadership campaign, Ms Truss has pledged to "start cutting taxes from day one" with a new Budget and Spending Review that would reverse April's rise in national insurance and next year's corporation tax increase from 19% to 25%.7

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She has faced criticism this will benefit higher earners rather than those on low incomes.

Ms Truss insisted her plan was "fair" when pressed on what more she will do.

"To look at everything through the lens of redistribution, I believe, is wrong. Because what I'm about is about growing the economy, and growing the economy benefits everybody," she said.

Although Ms Truss has hinted at more support for households, she would not say if she would freeze energy bills - as Labour has suggested - reiterating that we will find out her plan next week if she becomes prime minister.

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2:29

The final hustings in the Tory leadership campaign

And when asked if she will be giving people money to pay their energy bills, she said the issue is serious but her first port of call will be sorting out supply and resources in the North Sea.

She insisted she was "not being coy" by refusing to go into detail, adding: "What I've been very clear about is that I would act immediately within a week. I understand what people are facing on energy bills."

It comes after she told the Sunday Telegraph that "sticking plasters and kicking the can down the road will not do" as a solution.

Truss will 'act immediately' on energy crisis - as ally suggests Johnson 'may be tempted' to run again - Politics latest

She said she would appoint a council of economic advisers to help guide her and her chancellor - within her first week in office.

"A fiscal event would follow later this month from my chancellor, with a broader package of action on the economy," she added.

More on the costs of living crisis:
Care home provider warns of closures due to rising energy costs
UK food prices see biggest jump for 14 years

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Polling among Tory party members has suggested Ms Truss will win the leadership race.

Mr Sunak reiterated that he would continue as an MP if he loses the leadership election during his interview with Kuenssberg.

He also did not rule out running for the leadership again if he does not win this time.

He said: "We've just finished this campaign. So, I'd say ... I need to recover from this one. But I look forward to supporting the Conservative government in whatever capacity."

On the cost of living crisis, he said it "simply cannot be solved for everyone" but that he will target the most vulnerable in any support package.

New PM 'faces second most difficult brief since World War Two'

The interviews came as the two contenders were warned that the next prime minister faces the second most difficult brief since World War Two.

Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Senior Tory David Davis said whoever inherits the keys to No 10 faces the second most difficult post-war in tray, after Margaret Thatcher.

He suggested the cost of living challenge will cost tens of billions of pounds.

"I actually don't think any of the candidates, not one of them going through it, really knows quite how big this is going to be," he said.

"It's going to be on a par with the furlough scheme in terms it's going to tens of billions of costs."

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1:29

Truss will be good if she's 'inclusive'

Meanwhile, former chancellor Lord Philip Hammond said the incoming prime minister will need to provide help with "massive energy bills".

He said cutting taxes is "simply not the answer" to the cost of living crisis and his advice for the next incumbent of No 10 is to be "honest with the British people about the challenges we are facing in the short term".

However, when it was put to him that it sounded like he was "more on the Rishi Sunak side", he said: "I look at the bookies odds, I look at the polling and I'm pretty sure we're going to have a Truss government."

He went on to say that Ms Truss was a "formidable" chief secretary to the Treasury when he was chancellor, and that she "works very hard".

Read More:
Tory leadership race draws to a close with winner announced on Monday
Who is proposing what to tackle soaring energy bills

He added: "I think she can make a very good prime minister, but she must do it by being inclusive.

"She'll send a clear signal as early as Tuesday when she starts to form her cabinet.

"And it must be a cabinet that reflects the talent across the Conservative Party and sends a message to the country that this will be a government that focuses on delivery, on competence, on honesty and on applying those values in a pragmatic way."

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2022-09-04 11:22:04Z
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