Politics

Kwasi Kwarteng is facing calls for an official inquiry following a report that he attended a private champagne reception with hedge fund managers following his mini-budget. The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the chancellor joined the gathering in Chelsea on 23 September and was said to have been “egged on” to pursue his plan of

Liz Truss and the Tories’ approval ratings have again plummeted in a fresh poll – as Labour jumped to a 19-point lead. The Opinium poll showed 55% of voters disapprove of the new prime minister and just 18% approve, which is worse than Boris Johnson’s final days in office. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is no more

In his book on the failure of Ronald Reagan’s economic revolution, the US president’s one-time guru David Stockman wrote that the only thing worse than short-termism in politics is ideological hubris in government. The so-called “father of Reaganomics”, Stockman was a key part of an economic overhaul that has some eerie echoes of the current

Liz Truss has for the first time acknowledged that “there has been disruption” to the UK economy following last week’s mini budget. Since the chancellor’s announcement of £45bn in tax cuts the value of the pound has plummeted, nearly half of mortgages have been pulled and the Bank of England launched a £65bn bail-out to

You have to go back to Tony Blair’s honeymoon period after his 1997 landslide general election victory to find a Labour opinion poll lead as massive as 33 points. All those critics of Sir Keir Starmer – mostly on the Corbynista left-wing of the party, who’ve claimed with the Tories in turmoil, Labour should be

Labour has surged to record leads in multiple polls in the wake of the economic turmoil after the government’s mini-budget. A YouGov/Times poll placed Labour 33 points ahead of the Conservatives, believed to be the largest lead for Labour in any recorded poll since 1998, when the-then PM Tony Blair was enjoying his “honeymoon period”.

Liz Truss has surfaced today after a week out of the public gaze to insist she believes her mini-budget was right, and “global forces” are to blame for the financial situation. In a round of regional radio interviews ahead of her party conference, Liz Truss’s pre-prepared answers struggled against some tough questioning. “Are you ashamed

Liz Truss is a “danger” to the economy and has “lost control” after the fallout from the government’s mini-budget, Sir Keir Starmer has told Sky News. Speaking to political editor Beth Rigby, the Labour leader stopped short of calling for the PM and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to quit, saying it was a “secondary” issue.

Sir Keir Starmer has called for a recall of parliament to discuss the financial market turmoil following Friday’s mini-budget. Speaking to reporters, the Labour leader said the move by the Bank of England to launch a temporary bond-buying programme to prevent “material risk” to UK financial stability was “very serious”. Politics Hub: ‘Growing movement’ for

Labour will tomorrow unveil plans to ensure every primary school child in England has access to fully funded breakfast clubs under a government led by Sir Keir Starmer. Announcing the scheme on the final day of the party’s conference in Liverpool, Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, will say the policy will be paid for

Liz Truss had to be convinced to issue a government statement yesterday to calm the markets, Sky News understands.  Faced with market turmoil, spiking borrowing costs and the drop in the value of the pound in the foreign exchange markets, the prime minister’s initial instinct was to stand firm and say little or nothing, unwilling

Sir Keir Starmer will claim a “changed” Labour can turn the UK into a “growth superpower” in his keynote conference speech – as a new poll gave the party its largest lead over the Conservatives in more than two decades. The Labour leader will tell party delegates in Liverpool on Tuesday that Labour’s Green Prosperity

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the UK government is putting the economy in danger and attacked Prime Minister Liz Truss’s plan of “trickle-down economics” after the pound sank to a record low against the dollar. Sterling slipped to a low of $1.0327 on Monday, before stabilising at around $1.07, following lows seen after

Labour will pledge to “build British industry” through the use of a state-owned investment fund during the second day of the party’s conference in Liverpool on Monday. In her speech today, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, will set out the party’s industrial strategy, which includes promises to invest in national projects from battery factories to

After last year’s showdown with the Labour left on party rules and the resignation of a shadow cabinet minister, Sir Keir Starmer is hoping for a calmer, happier conference in Liverpool. But the leader knows he is not in control of all his party’s levers – and his bête noires in Momentum and the Corbyn-backing

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the Conservatives of showing their “true colours” by unveiling tax cuts that will benefit the wealthiest most. Arriving at Labour’s party conference in Liverpool, he vowed to set out a plan for “an economy that works for working people” – unlocking “growth for everyone”. According to the Opposition, the mini-budget

Labour will attempt to fight back against the chancellor’s Trussonomics tax giveaways by unveiling rival plans to boost economic growth at its conference in Liverpool. The four-day conference will begin with a tribute to the Queen by party leader Sir Keir Starmer and the national anthem, a move that will be criticised by left-wingers. Deputy

It may have been billed a mini-budget, but what Kwasi Kwarteng announced on Friday was massive. A package of tax cuts on a scale not seen for half a century, paid for through borrowing at increasingly expensive rates in the hope that it will deliver better growth. This is an administration that promised “shock and

In the end, Kwasi Kwarteng’s statement indeed cost more than £2 billion a minute and turned politics on its head. Threads that linked the three preceding Tory governments since 2010 were severed, while slogans, billboards and arguments about what it has meant in recent years to vote Conservative clattered into the waste bin. The new

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has revealed the mystery note she was passed in the Commons on 8 September told her the Queen was unwell, and she had to discreetly persuade her boss to immediately leave the chamber. Speaking on the News Agents podcast, Ms Rayner said when Nadhim Zahawi handed it to her, and