PMQs: Liz Truss pledges no public spending cuts as she defends mini-budget - BBC

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By Chris Mason & Sam Francis

BBC Politics

Liz Truss has said she is "absolutely" not planning public spending cuts.

Markets are waiting to find out how the government proposes to bring down debt, following the chancellor's tax cutting mini-budget last month.

Ms Truss told MPs the government would focus on reducing debt "not by cutting public spending but by making sure we spend public money well".

Sir Keir Starmer said the government's "borrowing spree" had left homeowners worried about their mortgages.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, the Labour leader called for a reversal of the mini-budget, which set out plans for £43bn borrowing to fund tax cuts intended to stimulate economic growth.

Government borrowing costs have increased following market turmoil over the last month, and the Bank of England has warned interest rates could rise again.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has warned that the chancellor will need to make spending cuts to put the country's finances on a sustainable path, saying the government would have to spend £60bn a year less by 2026-27.

The chancellor has promised the government's economic plan will be outlined on 31 October, accompanied by an assessment by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

During PMQs, Sir Keir asked Ms Truss if she stood by her pledge, made during her leadership election, that "I'm not planning public spending reductions".

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The prime minister replied: "Absolutely. What we will make sure is that over the medium term the debt is falling. But we will do that not by cutting public spending but by making sure we spend public money well."

The government has previously said it was committed to spending settlements, set out in the 2021 Comprehensive Spending Review.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said earlier this month: "I think it's a matter of good practice and really important that we stick within the envelope of the CSR."

The review set out plans for increases to public spending above inflation, but with prices now rising, with inflation at 9.9% in August, government department budgets will come under pressure.

The prime minister's official spokesman has so far refused to confirm whether departmental budgets would stick to the below inflation increases set out in the CSR.

Privately several senior government figures have acknowledged there will "belt tightening" in departmental budgets coming.

Reporters repeatedly asked if public money being spent on the energy price cap freeze explains how the government can say that there won't be spending cuts, when belts are expected to be tightened.

Given the size of the intervention in the energy markets, there would still be capacity for significant cuts in some budgets, while allowing the PM to accurately say that government spending overall has increased.

At PMQs, Sir Keir said the prime minister needs to "stop ducking responsibility".

He told her: "Does she think the public will ever forgive the Conservative Party if they keep on defending this madness and go ahead with their kamikaze budget?"

Ms Truss hit back, asking whether Labour would reverse the government's support for energy bills.

The PM said: "We are seeing interest rates rising globally in the face of Putin's appalling war in Ukraine.

"What we are making sure is that we protect our economy at this very difficult time internationally.

"As a result of our action - and this has been independently corroborated - we will see higher growth and lower inflation."

In the House of Commons later, answering questions from MPs on the economic situation, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp said there would be "no real term cuts" to public spending.

"We do plan iron discipline when it comes to spending restraint," he added.

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Treasury Select Committee chair Mel Stride called on the Treasury to "come forward with a further rowing back" on the tax announcements in the mini-budget.

Mr Stride, who is Conservative MP for Central Devon, said the Chancellor has "a huge challenge" reassuring the markets ahead of his 31 October announcement.

"He has to get the fiscal rules right, he has to come forward with spending restraint and revenue raisers that are politically deliverable," Mr Stride said.

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2022-10-12 14:39:30Z
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Leah Croucher: Human remains found in Milton Keynes in search for teenager missing since 2019 - Sky News

Human remains have been found in the search for teenager Leah Croucher, who vanished more than three years ago.

Ms Croucher was 19 when she was reported missing on 15 February 2019 in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Thames Valley Police said her rucksack and other personal possessions had also been found at a house after a tip-off on Monday.

Officers are still searching the property on Loxbeare Drive in the Furzton area of Milton Keynes, less than half a mile from where she went missing.

Ms Croucher vanished while walking to work - the last sighting of her was at around 8.15am on Buzzacott Lane.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter described the search as a "very difficult scene" and said a murder investigation had begun.

"The forensic examination continues and will do for some time. It is likely to take some time to formally identify the deceased," added a police statement.

Ms Croucher's family are being kept updated and supported.

Hundreds of officers have worked on the search since 2019, scouring 1,200 hours of CCTV and carrying out 4,000 house-to-house inquiries.

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Image: A forensic tent was put up outside the Loxbeare Drive property

Specialist search teams, police on horseback, dogs, the marine unit and the National Police Air Service have all been involved.

Mr Hunter said the tip-off, which came from a member of the public, was the first time they had been alerted to the Loxbeare Drive property.

"Our thoughts remain with Leah's family and friends, and we will continue to offer them all the support that they need," he said.

Image: She was last seen on 15 February 2019. Pic: Thames Valley Police

In an appeal a year after her disappearance, her parents Claire and John Croucher described the family's heartbreak and said they feared someone had taken her.

Ms Croucher was described as "very quiet" and "not really an outgoing type of person", who preferred reading fantasy fiction or watching DVDs in her room than socialising.

Image: An undated photo of Leah Croucher (right) with her sister Jade

She competed internationally in taekwondo, but her father said she was "not a fighter".

There was more tragedy when Miss Croucher's brother Haydon died age 24 in November 2019 - nine months after Leah went missing.

His mother said he'd found the disappearance of his sister "very difficult".

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2022-10-12 13:41:15Z
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King Charles III Coronation date announced by Buckingham Palace - The Scotsman

The deeply religious affair will take place in Westminster Abbey, on on Saturday May 6, eight months after the monarch's accession and the death of the Queen.

The Palace said the ceremony will be "rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry" but also "reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future".

Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, be crowned with the majestic St Edward's Crown and blessed during the historic ceremony.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort will be crowned next year.

Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937.

The Palace said: "Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023.

"The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

"The coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry."

It is understood that the ceremony will include the same core elements of the traditional service, which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, while also recognising the spirit of our times.

Charles's coronation is expected to be on a smaller scale and shorter, with suggestions that it could last just one hour rather than over three.

It is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than past coronations but will be an Anglican service.

Guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, axed.

Coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend, with the late Queen's taking place on a Tuesday. The Palace has yet to comment on whether there will be any arrangements for a bank holiday.

Further details are due to be released in due course, but the Government and the royal household will be conscious of the scale of the coronation in light of the cost-of-living crisis facing the country.

The late Queen's coronation took place on June 2 1953 - 16 months after she became monarch.

Special seating structures were built inside the church to increase the usual congregation from 2,000 to 8,000.

Security will be heightened given the high-profile nature of the day.

The King will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year.

The King acceded to the throne on September 8, immediately on the death of his mother, Elizabeth II - the nation's longest reigning monarch.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

Charles will be anointed by the Archbishop and take his oath to "maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine worship, discipline, and government thereof, as the law established in England".

The Queen Consort will be crowned and take her place on a throne.

Elizabeth II delivered a masterstroke on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022 when she endorsed the then-Duchess of Cornwall to be known as Queen Consort when the time came.

Royal aides insisted, when she married Charles, that Camilla did not want to be queen and said originally that she "intended" to be known instead as Princess Consort - the first in British history - when Charles acceded to the throne.

The wife of a king automatically becomes a Queen and only a change in legislation would prevent her from doing so, but there had been much controversy over whether Camilla would use the title, being Charles's former mistress who became his spouse.

The royal website used to declare: "A Queen Consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony."

But, following Charles's marriage to Camilla, it added the get-out clause "unless decided otherwise".

The late Queen's coronation was a carnival of celebration and a morale boost for a nation starved of pageantry in the wake of the Second World War.

People began to bed down in the streets of London as early as 48 hours before Tuesday June 2 1953, just to make sure they had a standing place to watch the Queen pass by in the gold state coach in a grand procession.

By the Monday evening, in pouring rain and driving wind, half a million people were already lining the procession route.

Charles, who was only four at the time, attended the service.

He has recalled his mother going to say goodnight to him the night before while wearing the crown so she could get used to its weight on her head.

Charles described the "thousands of people gathered in The Mall outside Buckingham Palace chanting 'We want the Queen' and keeping me awake at night".

The 1953 coronation was shared with a wider audience through the relatively new medium of television, which came of age with the screening of the ceremony for the first time.

An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched the ceremony live on their black and white TVs and the images were also beamed around the world.

The Duke of Norfolk, who organised the Queen's funeral, also has the role of staging the coronation.

He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone behind the wheel - despite claiming he needed his licence to arrange the forthcoming ceremony.

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2022-10-11 20:39:18Z
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One in five residential care workers were living in poverty - before the cost of living crisis - Sky News

One in five residential care workers in the UK were living in poverty before the cost of living crisis, according to new research.

Care home and assisted living staff are also far more likely to live in poverty than the average UK worker, according to analysis by the Health Foundation.

It said low pay is a "political choice" and warned that for many providing care, "work is not a reliable route out of poverty".

The revelation comes as people across the country grapple with the cost of living crisis and surging inflation.

The think tank pooled data over three years from two government surveys on the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK.

Health Foundation director of policy, Hugh Alderwick, said: "Social care workers - who are mostly women - play a vital role in society but are among the lowest paid workers in the UK, and experience shocking levels of poverty and deprivation.

"Many cannot afford enough food, shelter, clothing and other essentials, putting their health at risk.

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"Sustained underfunding of social care has contributed to unacceptable pay and conditions for staff and major workforce shortages, with vacancies in England rising by 52% last year.

"This reflects political choices. If government values people using and providing social care, it must act to tackle low pay and insecure employment conditions in the sector."

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The sample size over three years was 1,488 care staff aged 16 and over working in nursing homes, care homes and assisted-living housing for older and disabled people.

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Poverty was defined as having a household income below 60% of the median household income after housing costs.

Around one in five residential care workers (18.5%) were living in poverty in between April 2017 and April 2020, the analysis found.

This compares to 12.5% of all workers, and 8.5% of health workers, with "limited change" since 2012, which suggests "persistently high levels of poverty".

The analysis found a further 8.5% of care workers were living just above the poverty line, meaning in total more than a quarter were living in or on the brink of poverty.

The workforce was also twice as likely to receive Universal Credit and benefits from the old system than general workers (19.6% versus 9.8%), the report said.

What is more, over a quarter of England's adult social care workforce is over 55, and may retire in the next decade -- leaving already high vacancy rates even higher.

That's according to a new report from Skills for Care, which also revealed staff turnover rates at nearly 30 percent last year.

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2022-10-11 01:35:50Z
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Big and painful cuts needed to fix budget, says IFS - BBC

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By Ben King

Business reporter, BBC News

The chancellor will need to make "big and painful" spending cuts to put the country's finances on a sustainable path, the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank has warned.

With a weaker economy and promised tax cuts, there will be a large shortfall in revenue, the IFS predicts.

It calculates the government would have to spend £60bn a year less by 2026-27.

However, the Treasury said its tax cuts and reforms would deliver "sustainable funding for public services".

In a new report, the IFS outlines the scale of the cuts necessary to make the sums add up over the next five years, using an illustrative example.

It suggests Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng could:

• increase working-age benefits in line with average earnings rather than inflation for two years to save £13bn
• limit public investment to 2% of national income, to save £14bn
• cut the budgets of every government department except health and defence by 15%, to save around £35bn

Mr Kwarteng and Prime Minister Liz Truss have argued focusing on measures to promote growth will help plug the shortfall between income and outgoings.

The chancellor has promised to set out further details of his economic strategy on 31 October, three weeks earlier than originally planned, alongside a full forecast from the official Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

That change of timetable came after the markets baulked at the strategy announced in last month's mini-budget.

It outlined large tax cuts and a huge package of support with energy costs without details of how they would be paid for, and without the usual assessment of their impact from the OBR.

The IFS, a politically independent economics-focused think tank, has published its own assessment of the chancellor's strategy, in what it names a Green Budget, after the consultation green papers issued in Parliament.

It calculates the chancellor would have to cut spending on benefits, public services, and investment sharply if he wants to stick to his commitment to balance the budget in the medium term, rather than see debt continuing to rise.

IFS director Paul Johnson said: "The chancellor says he wants to get the public finances on a sustainable basis. It looks to us like that's going to mean tens of billions of pounds of spending cuts in order to achieve that.

"It's hard to see what other way out the chancellor has."

Mr Johnson said the country was not going into a period "with much fat to trim".

"One of the problems the government faces is we have had a decade and more of really tight spending settlements, we're still spending less on a lot of public services than we were just over a decade ago," he told BBC News.

Cutting public sector pay, benefits, education, justice and prisons would all be very difficult against that backdrop, he said.

'Huge uncertainty'

The government's current commitment is to have debt falling relative to the size of the economy after three years, though that rule predates the start of Liz Truss's government.

The IFS has done its calculations based on allowing five years before debt must start to fall.

It said it accepted there was "huge uncertainty" over the impact of budgetary policies, and welcomed the government's focus on faster growth, which it said "would definitely help".

Getty Images

The chancellor has said he is targeting growth of 2.5% a year, which would boost tax revenues and reduce the need for spending cuts.

However, an independent assessment from the OBR remained vital, the IFS said, to make sure that "politically motivated wishful thinking is not incorporated into economic and fiscal forecasts".

Forecasts from the bank Citi, which collaborated on the IFS Green Budget, suggest the economy will shrink in the next two years, as rising interest rates and rising prices slow the economy down.

Citi estimates growth will average about 0.8% over the next five years.

Paul Johnson said he would be "very surprised" if he OBR didn't also suggest that large spending cuts or tax rises would be necessary balance the books.

A Treasury spokesperson said: "Through tax cuts and ambitious supply-side reforms, our Growth Plan will drive sustainable long-term growth, which will lead to higher wages, greater opportunities and sustainable funding for public services."

"The government is committed to fiscal responsibility and getting debt falling as a share of GDP in the medium term," they added.

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2022-10-10 23:03:31Z
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Nurse Lucy Letby poisoned babies with insulin, trial told - bbc.co.uk

SWNS

A "poisoner was at work" at a hospital where there was a "significant rise" in the number of healthy babies dying, a court has heard.

Lucy Letby has been accused of murdering five baby boys and two girls, and attempting to murder 10 other babies at Countess of Chester hospital.

Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, said she was a "constant malevolent presence" in the hospital's neonatal unit.

Ms Letby, 32, of Hereford, denies 22 charges at Manchester Crown Court.

Jurors heard Ms Letby is alleged to have tried to kill one child three times, while another died as a result of being injected with air.

Family members of some of the babies concerned in the case were among those present in the court as Mr Johnson opened the prosecution.

He said the Chester institution was a "busy general hospital like so many others in the UK".

However, he said that "unlike many other hospitals, within the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, a poisoner was at work".

"Prior to January 2015, the statistics for the mortality of babies in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester were comparable to other like units," he said.

"However, over the next 18 months or so, there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and in the number of serious catastrophic collapses."

Julia Quenzler/BBC

He said the increases were noticed by hospital consultants, who were concerned that "babies who were dying had deteriorated unexpectedly".

Medics also noted that babies who had collapsed "did not respond to appropriate and timely resuscitation" and that others "collapsed dramatically, but then, equally dramatically, recovered".

"Having searched for a cause, which they were unable to find, the consultants noticed that the inexplicable collapses and deaths did have one common denominator," he said.

"The presence of one of the neonatal nurses and that nurse was Lucy Letby."

Mr Johnson told the court that as medics could not account for the collapses and deaths, police were called in and conducted a "painstaking review".

"That review suggests in the period between mid-2015 and the middle of 2016, somebody in the neonatal unit poisoned two children with insulin," he said.

"The prosecution say the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the evidence you will hear is that somebody poisoned these babies deliberately with insulin."

Among several cases detailed by the barrister, he told the jury that both babies were boys and both born as twins - but not to each other - and were poisoned within a few days of being born.

Mr Johnson said their blood sugar levels dropped to dangerous levels.

But the babies - identified only as child F and child L - survived due to the skill of medical staff who appreciated low blood sugar can have natural causes, he said.

"What the medical staff did not realise was that in both cases, was the result of someone poisoning them with insulin," he added.

The prosecutor said nobody would think somebody would be trying to kill babies in a neonatal unit.

Dennis Turner/Geograph

"There's a very restricted number of people who could have been the poisoner, because entry to a neonatal unit is closely restricted," he said.

"Lucy Letby was on duty when both were poisoned and we allege she was the poisoner," Mr Johnson said.

He said both of the twins had a baby brother, child E and child M, who were both also allegedly attacked by Ms Letby - one of which did not survive.

The court heard one of the means by which the child E was killed and child M was harmed, was by having air injected into the bloodstream - what the doctors call an air embolus.

He said all the deaths and collapses were "no accident" and were not "naturally-occurring tragedies".

Mr Johnson said sometimes babies were injected with air and on other occasions they were fed with insulin or too much milk.

Julia Quenzler

He told the court: "So varying means by which these babies were attacked, but the constant presence when they were fatally attacked or collapsed catastrophically was Lucy Letby."

Jurors were shown a chart showing nurses who were present on duty when the alleged criminal incidents were said to have taken place.

Pointing out, as examples, the first three alleged offences in time he said the chart showed the only person that was present on all three occasions was the defendant.

Mr Johnson said: "If you look at the table overall the picture is, we say, self-evidently obvious. It's a process of elimination.

"Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts.

"When upon Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts, the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts.

"They were all the work of the woman in the dock, who, we say, was the constant malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse for these 17 children."

Mr Johnson alleged that in some cases, Ms Letby tried to kill the same baby more than once.

"Sometimes a baby that she succeeded in killing she did not manage to kill the first time she tried, or even the second time, and in one case even the third time."

The court heard how Ms Letby studied for her nursing degree at the University of Chester and had qualified a few years before the alleged events.

She worked throughout the period in consideration at the neonatal unit and was living in Chester at the time.

The jury has been told the trial may last up to six months.

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2022-10-10 16:08:54Z
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‘Panicked’ Truss abandons plan to hire outsider to shake-up Treasury - POLITICO Europe

Prime Minister Liz Truss has ditched her plan to hire a dynamic senior official to shake-up the Treasury and lead a sweeping overhaul of U.K. economic policy, in a sign that a crisis of confidence has gripped her faltering, month-old administration. 

In what insiders said was a panic move, Truss at the weekend overruled her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng over the appointment of the new chief official in the Treasury, a vital decision amid mounting unease over the government’s handling of the economy. 

As soon as they took office last month, Truss and Kwarteng fired the long-serving permanent secretary to the Treasury, Sir Tom Scholar, apparently wanting fresh leadership at the top of Whitehall’s most powerful department. 

Kwarteng and Truss had been preparing to name Antonia Romeo — the highest profile business-facing official in government — as Scholar’s replacement. Her mission was to have been to drive through an overhaul of what Truss’s team had disapprovingly called “Treasury orthodoxy” in order to deliver rapid growth. 

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Kwarteng and his team had even privately named Romeo as his first choice for the role, with Truss’ apparent agreement. But the embattled prime minister, reeling from a succession of self-inflicted crises, backtracked on the plan and appointed James Bowler, a former Treasury insider, instead. 

People familiar with the process said Truss “panicked” over the appointment after the government’s tax-cutting mini-budget bombed, triggering a massive selloff in the currency and bond markets. 

The people said Romeo had been offered and had accepted the role last week. Transition arrangements in preparation for her arrival at the Treasury were already under way before the prime minister’s U-turn, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential matters. 

The chaotic process risks further undermining Truss’ reputation for competence and eroding the government’s already damaged credibility on its handling of the economy. It also leaves open huge questions over what happens to Truss’ personal pledge to deliver “growth, growth, growth” . 

Truss and Kwarteng’s decision to push Scholar out last month provoked dismay from senior figures in Westminster and Whitehall, including former chancellors and two ex-cabinet secretaries. 

They might have got away with it had their first fiscal announcements not been a disaster. The Bank of England had to intervene to stabilise the market turmoil, pledging to buy up government debt in order to stem spiralling borrowing costs. 

Last week, amid a growing political backlash from within the ruling Conservative party, Truss decided to reverse Kwarteng’s plan to cut the 45p top rate of income tax for the highest earners. 

Her decision to overrule him again will raise further doubts about the status of their working relationship. Asked repeatedly by broadcasters last week whether she trusted her chancellor in the wake of the budget chaos, Truss refused to say that she did. 

Antonia Romeo was appointed to the role last week, according to people familiar with the process | Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

After news broke Monday of Bowler’s appointment, No. 10 officials insisted the decision was taken jointly by the PM and chancellor. While Truss rates Romeo highly, Bowler was judged to be the best person for the job given his Treasury background, according to government aides.

The PM’s spokesman denied that the government was in chaos after the mini-budget, adding that Truss was “confident” in the measures she has announced to boost growth and support people through winter.

Both Romeo, who runs the Ministry of Justice, and Bowler, who is the top official at the Department for International Trade, were well qualified for the position, as long-standing civil servants with experience running government departments.

Some media reports suggested Romeo would not have been universally welcomed in the Treasury because she was seen as a disruptor. However, one senior Whitehall official said Romeo would have brought more drive and commercial experience than Bowler to the role. She has worked as a diplomat drumming up business for the U.K. in New York and set up the Department for International Trade, running it as permanent secretary for four years before Bowler took over last year.

"It's a shame. Antonia would have brought a lot of energy, great drive and leadership, with a more commercial perspective," the official said. "James is a good guy, very sensible" and is embedded in "classic Treasury orthodoxy" due to his long career in the economic department, the official said. Bowler's record at the Treasury stretches back to 2005, when he was principal private secretary to Labour's chancellor at the time, Gordon Brown.

"Something strange seems to have happened. She was appointed and then not," said the senior official, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. "Whether it's panic or not I don't know."

In the official announcement, Kwarteng said he was “delighted to welcome James back to the Treasury.” 

The recruitment process was led by Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, the country’s most senior, politically impartial official who is in charge of the civil service. Officially, he made the appointment, with the approval of Truss and the agreement of Kwarteng, according to the government’s press release. 

This article has been updated with more details, including the government statement confirming the announcement.

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2022-10-10 14:16:48Z
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