Truss ‘undercutting economic institutions’ – latest

“We haven’t heard from Truss since she spoke in the graveyard slot at the United Nations, overnight, a week ago. She was in the House of Commons by Kwasi Kwarteng’s side as he announced his emergency Budget on Friday, supportively nodding and smiling, but she scuttled out of the chamber as soon as the leader of the opposition had responded.”

Liz Truss is set to appear in public for the first time since her government’s mini-Budget was presented last week.

Ms Truss is scheduled to have interview slots on BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Tees, BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio Bristol between 8am and 9am.

The interviews come as the prime minister is facing criticism for going into hiding amid the economic crisis in the country.

Kwasi Kwarteng’s huge tax cuts will add less than 0.1 per cent to GDP each year, a new analysis is warning – while costing £82bn in debt interest alone over five years.

The package, £45bn of unfunded tax cuts mainly for top earners and big business, will generate only £6bn in extra receipts, the report says – “leaving a yawning fiscal deficit”.

Rob Merrick has the details:

The District Councils’ Network (DCN), which represents 186 lower-tier councils outside England’s big cities and urban areas, has warned that support services for families hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis face being axed.

The DCN said without government help inflationary pressures and rising demand for services would push district councils’ shortfall to £900m next year, reported The Guardian.

“District councils face a perfect storm. Inflation and pay pressures are driving up our costs just as the cost of living crisis bites for our residents and fuels demand for our services,” Sharon Taylor, the DCN’s vice-chair and finance spokesperson and the Labour leader of Stevenage district council was quoted as saying.

“We desperately don’t want to cut back on leisure services or welfare support. But the risk is that something will have to give.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for an immediate private rent freeze, as new analysis shows renters in the capital’s most poorly-insulated homes face paying a premium of almost £1,000.

City Hall figures shared with The Independent shows that Londoners in the leakiest private rental homes – in energy-efficiency rating bands F and G – face a premium of £947 a year.

The Labour mayor said: “The government must also give me the powers to stop rents rising in the capital which would save Londoners £3,000 over two years, and curb the inflationary pressure of rents on household budgets.”

While the government has come under fire for its mini-Budget presented last week, a Treasury source said to Sky News that there “won’t be any reversal of policy”.

The source added that chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will not be resigning.

Earlier Mr Kwarteng vowed to push on with the government’s radical borrowing-fuelled tax cut spree despite growing calls to “change course” amid ongoing market turmoil.

Rishi Sunak is reported to be avoiding Conservative party conference this year, so that Liz Truss can “own” the unfolding economic chaos.

During a leadership debate on 15 July Mr Sunak accused his rival of “fairytale economics” by promising unfunded tax cuts.

On 21 August Mr Sunak’s campaign team put out a statement warning that Truss’s economic policy could cause an “inflationary spiral”.

Calls have grown for Liz Truss to come out of hiding after the Bank of England was forced to intervene on Wednesday to prevent a major pension crisis.

A former Conservative MSP who believes Liz Truss has “lost control” of the economy has said it is now safer in the hands of a Labour government.

Professor Adam Tomkins, who was Glasgow’s MSP, added that it was “inevitable” the Tories would lose the next election as a result of their handling of the economy.

“That is an extraordinary thing to have to say and I’m saying it because of what Kwasi Kwarteng has done to the market in the last few days,” he told the BBC.

“It’s perfectly clear the economic future of the UK would be safer hands if Labour were in power than the Conservatives.”

Our chief business commentator James Moore has this report about the UK’s financial trouble: