Kwasi Kwarteng to bring forward planned fiscal statement in another U-turn as it happened – The Guardian

Kwarteng 'to bring forward planned 23 November fiscal statement'

In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation.

It will now take place later this month, rather than 23 November, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability.

Updated at 15.25EDT

Key events

A summary of today's developments

Kwarteng 'to bring forward planned 23 November fiscal statement'

UK's first prototype nuclear fusion power station to be built by 2040

Government announces it will replace GDPR rules

Rees-Mogg: if people want to call me Tory scum, I dont mind.

Badenoch urges Tories to unite behind Truss, and to express concerns in private, not through media

Lockdown at Tory conference lifted after security alert lasting around 90 minutes

Kwarteng's speech - verdict from Twitter commentariat

Kwasi Kwarteng's speech - snap verdict

Kwarteng pledges to review, replace or repeal retained EU law 'holding our country back'

Kwarteng dismisses row generated by 45% tax plan as 'a little turbulence'

Kwarteng starts his speech to Tory conference

Rees-Mogg claims 45% tax rate U-turn not significant

Truss picked cronies off backbenches for cabinet, says Heseltine

Irish PM Michel Martin says Steve Baker's Brexit apology to EU and Ireland 'very, very helpful'

Why Tory rebels could find it harder to defeat PM over benefits or spending cuts

Schools minister confirms intention to lift ban on new grammar schools in England before election

Kwarteng set to address Tory conference with his authority on the line after 45% tax rate U-turn

UK and EU to resume technical talks on Northern Ireland protocol this week

Even with tax U-turn, richest families still gain 40 times as much as poorest ones from mini-budget, says thinktank

Labour says it would be 'grotesque' not to increase benefits in line with inflation

Former DWP secretary Esther McVey says it would be 'huge mistake' not to raise benefits in line with cost of living

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries says Truss should call election if she wants mandate for new agenda

Tory mayor Ben Houchen says U-turn on 45% tax rate does not wholly solve problem because 'damage is already done'

No 10 says Truss still has confidence in chancellor

Gove says he's now willing to vote for mini-budget - but still unhappy about prospect of benefits not rising with inflation

Fracking 'not going to happen' because communities don't support it, says Damian Green

Liz Truss needs six to 12 months of hard work 'to persuade public she's competent', says Damian Green

TUC accuses Truss of breaking promise not to return to austerity

45% tax rate U-turn will have 'essentially no effect on fiscal sustainability' of mini-budget, says IFS

Tory donor criticises tax U-turn, saying it's wrong being governed by media reaction 'which is not necessarily rational'

UK government bonds strengthen after tax U-turn

Kwarteng claims he feels 'humility and contrition' over 45% top rate of tax U-turn

Kwarteng rules out giving departments 18bn needed to compensate for higher than expected inflation

Kwarteng dismisses suggestion that Truss was blaming him for 45p plan in her BBC interview yesterday

Labour says the U-turn is too late, because the mini-budget is already leading to higher mortgates

Kwarteng says it was mistake attending champagne reception for Tory donors on day of mini-budget

Kwarteng rejects claims that it was plan to abolish 45% rate that triggered need for 65bn Bank of England intervention

Kwarteng suggests Truss took decision to perform U-turn

'Not at all' - Kwarteng says he has not considered resigning over 45% top rate tax policy

Kwarteng tells BBC Breakfast that 45p plan a 'distraction' from 'good set of policies'

Kwarteng confirms U-turn on abolition of 45% top rate of tax, saying plan was 'distraction' and 'we get it'

How Liz Truss said she was absolutely committed to abolishing 45% top rate of tax yesterday

Truss expected to abandon plan to abolish 45% top rate of income tax

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Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, said the government has abandoned the plan in the mini-budget to abolish the 45% top rate of income tax. He claimed the proposal has become a distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing our country. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, says the U-turn has come too late, because the mini-budget is already leading to higher mortgages for families.

In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation. It will now take place later this month, rather than November 23, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced the UKs first prototype nuclear fusion power station will be built in Nottinghamshire by 2040.

The government will be replacing GDPR (general data protection regulation) with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system, culture secretary Michelle Donelan announced.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has declared if people want to call me Tory scum, I dont mind. He told the Tory conference: I wanted to thank you for giving me almost a warmer welcome as I got outside the hall. But I think thats rather marvelous, I happen to think that having a democracy where you can actually walk through the streets and people can exercise their right to peaceful protest shows the strength of our society. And if people really want to call me Tory scum, I dont mind.

The Conservative party conference centre was locked down for about an hour and a half due to a security scare. Police locked all entrances and exits at about 3.30pm with ministers among those forced to wait outside. The lockdown caused widespread disruption to events inside and outside the conference venue, which is being held at Birminghams International Convention Centre. The type of the security scare is unknown.

Liz Truss packed her cabinet with cronies off the backbenches rather than competent ministers with a range of views, and appeared to have no coherent plan behind her mini-budget, Michael Heseltine said.

Schools minister Jonathan Gullis has told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference he is hoping that legislation to lift the current ban on new grammar schools in England will be brought forward before the next election. Gullis, a former teacher who has campaigned to scrap the ban and allow more grammar schools in England, told an Education Policy Institute event there was no date set and he didnt know if it would be in this parliamentary session.

Downing Street said Liz Truss still has confidence in the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. At the lobby briefing in London, asked if Truss has confidence in her chancellor, the prime ministers spokesperson told reporters: Yes.

Updated at 16.05EDT

Senior Conservative officials have accused West Midlands police of failing to do enough to keep protesters away from delegates at the party conference, a leaked letter reveals.

The disclosure comes just hours after the police were forced to lock down the conference in central Birmingham for several hours after a security scare. Police say they have been shortchanged by over 500,000 on the costs of keeping the conference in Birmingham secure.

Jake Berry, the Conservative party chair, and Darren Mott, party chief executive, sent a letter on Sunday evening to the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands raising serious concerns over security around the conference.

A new poll shows Labour leads by 28% over the Conservatives.

In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation.

It will now take place later this month, rather than 23 November, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability.

Updated at 15.25EDT

A Conservative Treasury minister and one of Liz Trusss major campaign donors said they would like to abolish inheritance tax, as they urged her to continue with her politically brave agenda for wealth creation.

Andrew Griffith, a City minister under Kwasi Kwarteng, said tax was not his policy area but inheritance tax would be his top choice for a tax to abolish.

Michael Spencer, a Tory peer and City financier who gave 25,0000 to Trusss leadership campaign, also backed abolishing inheritance tax, saying it was causing wealthy people to move abroad as non-doms, and scrapping tax on share trading.

Here is a montage of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwartengs comments before the income tax U-turn.

Kemi Badenoch urged her colleagues to have dissent in a grown-up fashion, instead of rushing to the first TV studio when they have an issue with government policy.

The International trade secretary took part in a question and answer session with GB News Liam Halligan on the main stage of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, where she spoke about the recent blue-on-blue attacks.

Asked how the party can communicate effectively the growth plan to the country, Ms Badenoch spoke about the need for unity and to get behind the Prime Minister.

She said that if people have problems with government policy, there is a way of communicating dissent that does not involve rushing to the first TV studio to let everybody know how angry you are.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng decried the hullabaloo about his mini-budget as he noted the market reactions and the excitement that led to his U-turn on axing the top rate of income tax.

He acknowledged the extraordinary events of the last 10 days and recent months in a brief speech at a PolicyExchange drinks reception at the Tory party conference.

Beyond the market reactions and the excitement, theres a real strong body of ideas there which are all about growth, he said.

Kwarteng added despite the hullabaloo about my statement, business people had praised his plan for growth.

Here is Jacob Rees-Moggs remarks that he would be delighted for his back garden to be fracked, as he risked deepening divisions within the Conservative party by deriding those who oppose the controversial practice as socialists.

Nick Timothy, who was chief of staff to Theresa May, believes it will be very, very difficult for Liz Truss to recover from the position shes in.

He believes the PM and Kwasi Kwarteng have dug themselves in an absolutely enormous hole.

Timothy told LBCs Tonight with Andrew Marr: I think its very, very difficult to recover from the position shes in.

I think anybody who makes the assumption that therefore she might be removed or have to leave as PM, I think is over-egging it at this stage.

But theyve dug themselves in an absolutely enormous hole and its going to be very difficult to get out of it.

Truss added she wants a settlement with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol which works for everybody.

She said she can see no reason why an Assembly and Executive cannot be re-established now at Stormont.

Asked if an election would be called if the Stormont powersharing institutions are not restored by October 28, Truss replied: Yes, there will.

Liz Truss said Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker was speaking for himself when he apologised for his previous ferocious stance on negotiations with the EU.

In an interview with UTV, the prime minister said: Steve speaks for himself.

I think we have a very good relationship with the Republic of Ireland. I have had a very good meeting with the Taoiseach (Micheal Martin) talking about the future.

I want to work constructively with the Republic of Ireland and the EU as well as all the parties in Northern Ireland.

Steve speaks from his own personal experience being deeply involved in the Brexit debate, but he speaks for the whole Government in that we absolutely want to find a negotiated solution to deal with the issues of the Northern Ireland Protocol and work with our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland.

The author of a controversial government report which claimed that Britain was no longer a place where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities has told an event at the Tory Party conference that the left has to take responsibility for what he described as the weaponisation of race.

Dr Tony Sewell, who was the chair of the governments commission on race and ethnic disparities, told the fringe event that the bodys report had been misrepresented by people who had not read it and who, he claimed, had claimed him a race denier.

What I am trying to say is that the weaponisation of this today is based on a simplification, he said, adding that white guilt was also part of this.

The result of laws and the atmosphere created by this, Sewell claimed, was that black people ended up being feeling restricted and believed that there needed to be safe spaces. He gave the example of walking clubs in which people from ethnic minorities came together.

Slowly the weaponisation comes in to restrict you and I do think that some people on the left have to take responsibility for this, he added.

When it was published in 2021, academics pulled apart claims in Sewells report that teaching about Britains colonial past should include material that speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering, but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain.

Among other critics, Doreen Lawrence, who campaigned for justice for 18 years after the murder of her son Stephen by racists, warned that the report risked pushing the fight against racism back 20 years or more for undermining the existence of structural racism.

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Kwasi Kwarteng to bring forward planned fiscal statement in another U-turn as it happened - The Guardian