Liz Truss: New prime minister installs allies in key cabinet roles - BBC

No 10

Liz Truss has rewarded her key allies with top jobs in a major reshuffle hours after succeeding Boris Johnson as prime minister.

Kwasi Kwarteng is made chancellor, James Cleverly becomes foreign secretary and Suella Braverman replaces Priti Patel as home secretary.

One of Ms Truss's closest friends, Therese Coffey, is appointed as health secretary and deputy PM.

Her new cabinet will meet ahead of her first Prime Minister's Questions later.

None of those who backed her defeated rival, Rishi Sunak, will remain in her full cabinet, with Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, George Eustice and Steve Barclay all returning to the backbenches.

But Ms Truss's press secretary said the changes would "unify" the Tory Party and pointed to senior roles for five of her leadership rivals: Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat as security minister, Kemi Badenoch as trade secretary, Penny Mordaunt as leader of the Commons, and Nadhim Zahawi as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

For the first time, none of the top four "great offices of state" - prime minister, chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary - is held by a white man.

• Follow live updates
• New cabinet: Who is in Liz Truss's top team?
• In pictures: Liz Truss becomes UK's 56th PM

Meanwhile, the new PM made her first call to a fellow foreign leader, pledging the UK's ongoing support to Ukraine in a call with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

No 10 said Ms Truss was also "delighted" to accept an invitation to visit Ukraine.

She later spoke to US President Joe Biden, where the pair discussed the importance of the UK reaching an agreement with the EU over post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland.

A near total purge of Sunak backers

There are a handful of striking things about the composition of Liz Truss's cabinet.

There has been a near total purge of those who backed Rishi Sunak.

The only one who I can spot is Michael Ellis, the new attorney general for England and Wales.

And even he will attend cabinet rather than being a cabinet minister, subtle though that distinction is.

This dominance of Truss campaign supporters around the Truss top table is already prompting grumbling among some Tory MPs, although we do await appointments to the more junior ranks in government.

The prime minister's desire for loyalty and building a government in her own image runs the risk of provoking rebellion down the track.

Read more from Chris here.

Ms Truss finished her first tranche of appointments late on Tuesday, with new Chancellor Mr Kwarteng tweeting that getting the job was "the honour of a lifetime".

He is expected to spend his first day meeting chief executives of various banks to brief them on his outlook.

Mr Kwarteng is also understood to be finalising plans for energy bill support which would see a typical household bill capped at around £2,500 a year.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was one of the few senior minister to retain his job, where he has earned plaudits in his response to the conflict in Ukraine.

Nadine Dorries, who backed Ms Truss, said she had been asked by the new PM to stay on as culture secretary but had decided to quit front-line politics.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, an early supporter of Ms Truss, was appointed business, energy and industrial strategy secretary.

Mr Sunak, the former chancellor whose resignation helped trigger the downfall of Boris Johnson, had already made it clear he did not expect to be offered a new job.

But his supporters had urged Ms Truss to appoint an "inclusive" cabinet and not simply surround herself with loyalists.

Ms Truss was appointed the 56th prime minister of the UK by the Queen, in a ceremony at Balmoral on Tuesday.

She returned to a rain-lashed Downing Street, where in a short speech she vowed to grow the economy through tax cuts and reform; take action to deal with energy bills and put the health service on "a firm footing".

• RUN FOR FUN: Nine tips to make running more enjoyable
• DOGGY DIET: Is expensive dog food actually better?

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiL2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLXBvbGl0aWNzLTYyODEzNTUy0gEzaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvdWstcG9saXRpY3MtNjI4MTM1NTIuYW1w?oc=5

2022-09-07 01:58:07Z
1552298007

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

PA Media

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.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy02MjgwNjcwONIBMWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy02MjgwNjcwOC5hbXA?oc=5

2022-09-07 00:18:20Z
CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy02MjgwNjcwONIBMWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1wb2xpdGljcy02MjgwNjcwOC5hbXA

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.”

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2UyNGI5ZTk5LWZhN2MtNDE0NS1iN2FhLTAxZjM1OTRjMzNiM9IBAA?oc=5

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.”

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50L2UyNGI5ZTk5LWZhN2MtNDE0NS1iN2FhLTAxZjM1OTRjMzNiM9IBAA?oc=5

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.

Advertisement

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

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

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.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L3VrLXdlYXRoZXItdHJhdmVsLWRlbGF5cy1hbmQtZmxvb2RpbmctbGlrZWx5LWFzLXRodW5kZXJzdG9ybS13YXJuaW5nLWRlY2xhcmVkLTEyNjkwNjc20gF1aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnNreS5jb20vc3RvcnkvYW1wL3VrLXdlYXRoZXItdHJhdmVsLWRlbGF5cy1hbmQtZmxvb2RpbmctbGlrZWx5LWFzLXRodW5kZXJzdG9ybS13YXJuaW5nLWRlY2xhcmVkLTEyNjkwNjc2?oc=5

2022-09-05 13:42:34Z
1548839941

New Prime Minister Liz Truss expected to freeze energy bills - BBC

Getty Images

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".

Getty Images

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.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL2J1c2luZXNzLTYyNzkxMTEz0gEwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYnVzaW5lc3MtNjI3OTExMTMuYW1w?oc=5

2022-09-05 12:28:00Z
1552295344

Cannock industrial fire: Reports of explosions - BBC

This video can not be played

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

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.

Free Radio News

Free Radio News

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

Related Internet Links

• West Midlands Fire Service

• Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiQmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLWVuZ2xhbmQtc3Rva2Utc3RhZmZvcmRzaGlyZS02Mjc5MzI5NdIBRmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLWVuZ2xhbmQtc3Rva2Utc3RhZmZvcmRzaGlyZS02Mjc5MzI5NS5hbXA?oc=5

2022-09-05 09:36:19Z
1555978212