Summary
Here are the key developments from the day:
Rishi Sunak has accused his leadership rival Liz Truss of setting up a “moral failure” if she does not support the most vulnerable through the cost-of-living crisis. At the Tory hustings in Belfast, the former chancellor criticised Truss tax cut plan and said: “If we don’t directly help those vulnerable groups, those on the lowest incomes, those pensioners, then it will be a moral failure of the Conservative government and I don’t think the British people will forgive us for that.”
The shadow home secretary has said comments from Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss, that British workers need “more graft”, are a “total disgrace”. Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “I think it reveals what she really thinks … This insult just shows, I think, that [Truss] does not understand working people right across the country. It’s deeply wrong of her to say this.”
UK inflation has risen above 10% for the first time in 40 years, driven by soaring prices for food and fuel as households come under mounting pressure from the cost of living crisis. The Office for National Statistics said the consumer prices index rose by 10.1% in the year to July, up from a reading of 9.4% in June and entering double figures at an earlier stage than anticipated. The figure was last higher in February 1982.
Unions are warning that the cost-of-living crisis has become a “living nightmare” for workers as the soaring rate of inflation is set to fuel more strikes. The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said inflation had reached “new perilous levels” for workers and their families.
The veteran retailer Stuart Rose has urged the government to do more to shield the poorest from double-digit inflation, describing the lack of action as “horrifying”, with a prime minister “on shore leave” leaving a situation where “nobody is in charge”. Responding to July’s 10.1% headline rate, the Conservative peer and Asda chair said: “We have been very, very slow in recognising this train coming down the tunnel and it’s run quite a lot of people over and we now have to deal with the aftermath of that.”
Liz Truss has refused to recognise the importance of animal welfare in post-Brexit trade deals, the environment secretary has said. George Eustice was speaking at the Conservative Environment Network Tory leadership hustings on behalf of Rishi Sunak, and said he faced “challenges” in trying to get Truss to enshrine animal welfare in trade deals.
London’s mayor has warned of a rise in shootings and stabbings amid concerns that the increasing cost of living could lead to more violence and make it easier for gangs to lure vulnerable young people. Sadiq Khan said millions of pounds more were being put into schemes to turn people away from violence. The Labour mayor has been criticised by some for his record on crime.
Labour lost more than 91,000 members last year and recorded a £4.8m deficit, caused by staff redundancies, a drop in membership subscriptions and ongoing legal battles with former staff members. But the party also raised significantly more than the Conservatives over the course of last year, bringing in more £45m compared with about £31m by the Tories.
Politicians from across the divide have expressed support for senior Conservative MP William Wragg after he said he would be taking a break to deal with depression and anxiety. He said both conditions are currently “severe” but he looks forward to “returning refreshed, better able to represent my constituents, loving life and myself a little bit more”.
Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the abuse of journalists by pro-independence supporters outside Tuesday’s Tory leadership hustings in Perth as “disgraceful”, as other Scottish Nationalist politicians called for any members involved to be thrown out of the party immediately. But Scottish Tories accused the first minister of being “selective” in who she supported, amid reports of demonstrators spitting and screaming at older party members as they walked into Tuesday evening’s event.
That’s it for today. We’ll be closing this blog shortly. Thanks so much for joining me. I’ll be back again tomorrow morning.
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The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said she would immediately reduce taxes and introduce a moratorium on the green energy levy in an effort to curb inflation if elected.
The former chancellor and leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, has accused her of setting up a “moral failure” if she does not support the most vulnerable people through the cost of living crisis. Both were speaking in Belfast during Tory hustings.
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Transport groups and opposition parties have reacted with bafflement to a proposal by Grant Shapps to look at mandatory insurance and registration for cyclists, something previously rejected by the Department for Transport (DfT) as impractical and counter-productive.
In an interview with the Daily Mail that appeared to surprise his own officials, the transport secretary said he “absolutely” wanted to extend speed limits to cyclists, adding: “I see no reason why cyclists should break the road laws and be able to get away with it.”
He added: “That obviously does then lead you into the question of, well, how are you going to recognise the cyclist, do you need registration plates and insurance and that sort of thing? So I’m proposing there should be a review of insurance and how you actually track cyclists who do break the laws.”
The Mail said this was a reference to possible number plates or other identification for bikes. Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dems’ spokesperson on transport, condemned what she called a “strange and pointless idea [that] would pile extra costs on to people who are trying to be more active”.
The DfT did not dispute that this was what Shapps meant, but said there was no plan in place and it would be a matter for whoever was transport secretary under the new prime minister.
Somewhat confusingly, in a separate interview with the Times, Shapps said he was “not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates”, adding: “That would go too far.”
Mandatory registration for cyclists is almost unknown in any country, and is widely seen as difficult to enforce and bringing no net benefit given the relatively little danger that cyclists pose to others, and the probable impact of such bureaucracy on levels of cycling.
The official DfT line, as explained by the junior transport minister Charlotte Vere in a parliamentary answer last year, is that the costs of registration “would outweigh the benefits, and this would deter many people from cycling”.
Read more here:
Liz Truss said she would “immediately” reduce taxes and introduce a moratorium on the green energy levy in a bid to curb inflation in Northern Ireland if elected.
Speaking after a tour of Artemis Technologies in Belfast, Truss moved to assure people that she would treat rising inflation as an “urgent issue” and ensure “it’s dealt with”.
She said:
What I would do immediately is reduce taxes, reversing the [national insurance] increase, having a moratorium on the green energy levy to save people money on their fuel bills, and deal with the supply problem.
We need to use more gas from our own resources here in this country. And we need to fix the energy problem by increasing supply.
She added:
The green energy levy is on all bills, so by removing that we would save people money on their bills. But what won’t work is simply a sticking plaster of handing more money out without dealing with the root cause.
And what I’m determined to do is deal with the root cause: make sure that we have energy security in this country.
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Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the abuse of journalists by pro-independence supporters outside Tuesday’s Tory leadership hustings in Perth as “disgraceful”, as other Scottish Nationalist politicians called for any members involved to be thrown out of the party immediately.
But Scottish Tories accused the first minister of being “selective” in who she supported, amid reports of demonstrators spitting and screaming at older party members as they walked into Tuesday evening’s event.
Politicians, journalists and members of the public who attended the hustings at Perth Concert Hall reported that demonstrators threw eggs, spat at Tory members and barged past the outer security barriers before being pushed back by police.
A number of different groups had congregated outside the building, including those standing behind “Yes” banners and others reading “Tory scum out” and “Liz Truss is a fanny”, as well as other carrying Socialist Workers party branded placards and some representatives of the Waspi women’s campaign. The “Tory Scum Out” banner was badged as by the ultranationalist group Siol nan Gaidheal.
Andrew Bowie, the Scottish Conservative vice-chair and MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, tweeted: “Eggs being thrown, spitting at pensioners. The good old ‘Tory scum’ banner out … Good to see Nicola Sturgeon’s civic and joyous nationalism in action in Perth tonight.”
In a widely shared video clip, protesters can be heard screaming abuse including “traitor” and “scum” at the BBC’s Scotland editor, James Cook, as he attempts to speak to them.
Earlier this year, the corporation’s previous Scotland editor Sarah Smith said she had felt relieved to have left the country after enduring years of misogynistic “bile and hatred” while covering Scottish politics.
Hurling abuse at journalists is never acceptable. Their job is vital to our democracy & it is to report & scrutinise, not support any viewpoint. @BBCJamesCook is a journalist of the highest quality and a total pro - the behaviour he was subjected to last night was disgraceful
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 17, 2022
Read the full story here:
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Labour £4.8m in deficit after redundancy payouts and membership losses
Labour lost more than 91,000 members last year and recorded a £4.8m deficit, caused by staff redundancies, a drop in membership subscriptions and ongoing legal battles with former staff members.
But the party also raised significantly more than the Conservatives over the course of last year, bringing in more £45m compared with about £31m by the Tories.
The party treasurer’s report, logged with the Electoral Commission, declared Labour had 432,213 members as of 31 December 2021, compared with 523,332 the previous year.
The report described the year as “difficult and demanding” but said a return to campaigning activities and the party’s annual conference post-Covid would begin to return the party to normal operations.
Labour’s membership increased significantly during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership to more than half a million, and it remains one of the largest in Europe – although large numbers of members left after Corbyn’s resignation, some disillusioned with Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Hilary Schan, co-chair of the grassroots group Momentum, said:
These figures are alarming. Keir Starmer’s pledge-breaking and factional approach has prompted an exodus of Labour members and a financial crisis for the party. Yet the leadership has welcomed these departures while actively alienating Labour’s affiliated trade unions, which give millions to the party.
The accounts stated membership income was “comparable with 2017 and 2018”, at the height of the Corbyn-inspired membership boom, but said the party was facing increasing costs, including redundancy payoffs for large numbers of staff.
The report said the severance scheme was the main reason for the deficit this year, which had required using cash reserves, noting that the party remained debt free.
Read more here:
Rishi Sunak has said he would seek to reform the energy market if made prime minister, in order to provide consumers with cheaper prices not tied to natural gas.
Asked what further support he would provide to businesses with energy costs, the leadership hopeful said:
Part of the reason is it gets passed through, so the reason inflation that all of us are seeing is, as of this morning, 10% is because businesses largely pass on the prices through. That is how a market economy works and the most effective thing for us to do is help people.
The former chancellor added there were some “major reforms we need to make to the energy market”, as currently the price of energy generated by renewable sources had been driven up alongside the spike in natural gas prices.
Sunak said:
That is how our market works, it looks at who has got the highest price and, right now, because of a war it is natural gas, and we have to pay everyone else that price. That is not right and we need to reform our market to break that link.
If we can do that, it will significantly lower wholesale electricity prices for all of the people that you spoke about and all of us.
The hustings has ended now. Voters were asked to remember there will be a postal strike and that it was better to vote online or send off postal votes early.
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Sunak warns Truss over 'moral failure' on cost of living crisis
Rishi Sunak has accused his leadership rival Liz Truss of setting up a “moral failure” if she does not support the most vulnerable through the cost-of-living crisis.
At the Tory hustings in Belfast, the former chancellor said:
The most important issue facing our country in the short term is how are we going to get through this winter. I think millions of people are at risk of a very tough time and I’ve been very clear that my plan is to support them.
I believe that we have to support vulnerable groups, those on low incomes and pensioners, directly with financial support, because a tax cut does not work for those people.
Liz’s plan is to say ‘well, I believe in tax cuts, not direct support’. I don’t think that’s right because a tax cut for someone on her salary means 1,700 of help. For someone working really hard on a national living wage, in the care sector, that tax cut is worth about a 1 a week. For a pensioner, who is not working, that tax cut is worth precisely zero.
That’s not a plan that I think is right for our country.
If we don’t directly help those vulnerable groups, those on the lowest incomes, those pensioners, then it will be a moral failure of the Conservative government and I don’t think the British people will forgive us for that.
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Asked about how he would help end the Stormont standoff, Rishi Sunak says he and Liz Truss agree on the matter.
He said:
It starts with talking to all parties and making sure that we can try and resolve differences and bring people together. That’s what I would do as prime minister. I’m sure it’s what Liz would do as well. Both of us are committed to passing the bill that is in parliament, but you know, as well as I do, that bill will take time to pass.
So in the interim, of course, as a new prime minister, I would seek to talk to Europe and Ireland and the French to see if we can find a negotiated outcome. I’ve got a track record and doing that I have good relationships with all my counterparts across the board because a negotiated outcome if it’s there, and history shows us that even when Europe say they’re not open to changing anything they have, because if that negotiated outcome is there, it will be far quicker than waiting for the bill to pass.
So it’s worth at least trying but being no doubt about my resolve to fix the situation with the protocol which I think will unlock the power sharing and bring people together again.
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Rishi Sunak was asked during the hustings about problems with hiring in social care.
In response, he said he would get much tougher when it came to benefits in order to get more people into work.
He said:
Some of the challenges that you’re seeing in social care are being felt across the economy and for many of you run small businesses. It’s the number one challenge other than energy costs. It’s getting access to workers and getting people to actually work and I strongly believe that part of the answer to this problem is being much tougher on our welfare system to get people off benefits and into work.
I’ll tell you this right now, there are more people claiming unemployment benefit than there are jobs vacancies in the economy. I mean, just think about that for a second and that’s happening under a Conservative government. That’s clearly not right. Something’s gone wrong. Now, I think there are one or two very specific things we can do to change. If you’re on unemployment benefit and you work just nine hours on the national living wage, at that point, you don’t have to check in as much with your job coach at the jobcentre, you don’t have to take the extra hours that may be on offer or an extra job, and you can keep your benefits and nothing happens. I don’t think that’s right. Because ultimately, it’s your taxes and someone who’s working very hard’s taxes that are paid for that.
If there are hours to do, if there’s a job going, people should have to be posted just being able to stay on benefits. That’s the change that I want to bring. Because I do think that is the right thing. It’s the conservative thing. Those are our values. We believe in working hard, right? And we want to support people off welfare into work because it’s good for them and their families too, because there’s dignity in work.
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The first question is from a former nurse who asks what Sunak will do about the NHS, pointing out that hospitals have mattresses on the floors as there are no beds.
He says:
The NHS is the country’s number one priority and it’s clearly under strain and if we want to be a government that cuts taxes, and I desperately want to deliver tax cuts for you and everyone else in the country, we have to be prepared to be bold about the NHS. Because if we’re not if we’re not prepared to do things differently, the NHS will continue to swallow up every pound that every one of you here and everyone else has. And I think we as conservatives need to try and change that dynamic. We need to reform and make the NHS more efficient. So we can talk less about how much money we’re always putting into it and more how the health care that we’re getting out of it.
He gives an example of one of his plans:
Last year across the NHS, there were 18 million appointments that were missed, not just at the GPS, but at the hospitals too. That’s not right and doesn’t value our doctors and nurses, and worse it deprives people of the care that they desperately need urgently need. So my plan is to get tough on people who are missing appointments. If we do that, it’s not about making money from them. It’s about changing behaviour in this country so that it is not acceptable [to miss appointments]. Because if people cancel those appointments in advance, we will free up an enormous amount of extra health care, which means people can get seen quicker they won’t be waiting the backlogs down faster without a single one of you, or anyone else having to pay a penny more in taxes.
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Rishi Sunak vows to make sure Keir Starmer “never walks through the doors of number 10 Downing Street” at the hustings in Belfast.
He continues:
In conclusion, I’ll just say this, you saw me as chancellor at the beginning of the pandemic acting boldly radically to successfully safeguard our economy through the biggest storm it had experienced in 300 years.
As prime minister, I promise you that I will apply that same sense of urgency and grip to everything else that government does, as we create a better Britain. A Britain where our children can walk safely on the streets at night, a Britain where the NHS is reformed and efficient and there for us when we need, a Britain where our schools and apprenticeships are the envy of the world in providing opportunity and a Britain where our economy is the most dynamic that has ever been with our businesses investing and innovating to create jobs in every part of our country.
Rishi Sunak has taken to the stage and is making his opening statement.
He says:
When it comes to rebuilding the economy, you don’t need me to tell you what the problem is. We saw it today in the figures, it’s inflation. And we’ve seen this story before. Inflation is the enemy it makes everyone poorer, eats into people’s savings, their pensions and it pushes up mortgage rates.
That’s why this autumn and winter as prime minister, I will make sure that we support especially the most vulnerable in our society, with the means to help get through what will be a difficult time because that’s the compassionate conservative thing to do. But what I will not do is pursue policies that risk making inflation far worse and last thing for longer, because that is not going to help anyone. And especially if those policies seem to amount to borrowing £50bn, and putting that on the country’s credit card. Then asking our kids and our brains to pick up the tab because for me that’s not right, not sensible and it is certainly not conservative.
But I am going to cut taxes and in this parliament for the first time in 16 years with my plans we will cut income tax, because I want to demonstrate that under a Conservative government that I lead hard work will always pay. But I’m going to do that responsibly by being tough on public spending and by growing our economy, which is why this autumn I want to radically change how we tax businesses, cutting taxes for those businesses that are doing the right thing and investing and innovating because that’s how you drive growth and productivity in a modern economy economy.
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Liz Truss was asked about her support of Boris Johnson.
The audience member said she had supported a prime minister that has “continually lied to the Queen, parliament and the entire United Kingdom therefore does not bring into question your own personal integrity and honesty?”
In response, Truss said:
I don’t I don’t agree with that. Boris Johnson has been an excellent prime minister.
He’s delivered on Brexit. He delivered on the Covid vaccine and he delivered on standing up to Vladimir Putin backing the Ukrainians and I’m proud of what he did.
What we need to do now is we need to deliver on the promises we made in 2019 to people across the United Kingdom and that is what I am determined to do.
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Liz Truss said she will be “very clear” with US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, over the Northern Ireland protocol.
The foreign secretary was asked in Belfast by a Tory member to reassure the party that she would not bow to pressure from the EU, the Republic of Ireland and the US over post-Brexit measures.
She replied:
I took on responsibility for negotiating the Northern Ireland Protocol, and against a lot of the advice in Whitehall and against of the wishes of some of the people you’ve mentioned, and I will be very clear with people like Nancy Pelosi exactly what I think about this and exactly what we need to do. I have got on with delivering this.
She added that the bill is “absolutely legal”.
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Liz Truss is asked how she would fix the benefit system. The audience member who is a small business owner asks:
If we take a single parent working, it gets to the stage now where people can’t afford to work if they work more than 16 hours a week [because] it starts to affect the benefits and they can’t afford to lose them. As a small business owner, it makes it much more difficult for us to recruit people. So how could you see to reward people to work rather than to not work for you?
Truss says:
There are a large number of people now across the United Kingdom who are economically inactive. What we need to do is encourage those people into work and we’re also facing businesses that have a skill shortage at the same time. And it is about changing the incentives in the benefit system.
And that is what I would seek to do over time. To get more people into work, but also creating the jobs and the opportunities that that people could work in. And that’s why it’s important that we keep taxes [low], we’ll reverse the national insurance increase. So we help businesses thrive, but we’re also helping people get those jobs by making the incentives in the benefit system much clearer.
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The next question is about abortion rights. Liz Truss is asked if she will be “the modern day William Wilberforce and see abortion abolished and infanticide ended” or if not if she would let the people of Northern Ireland have their say on this issue.
To the loudest round of applause so far, she says no.
I’m afraid I don’t agree with you. I think we need we are a United Kingdom and we need to apply laws right across the United Kingdom. That is what being a union is.
Liz Truss is asked who she would chose to be the next Northern Ireland secretary and will they be held accountable or “are you just going to give us another fly in and fly out another absentee political landlord?”
She answered:
I don’t want to be premature. We’re still in the middle of this leadership race. And what I can assure you about everybody I would appoint in the cabinet. It will be based on how good they are at doing the job or whether they get things done.
And we’ve been talking today about the important things we’ve got to deliver in Northern Ireland. We’ve got to deliver the Northern Ireland protocol bill, we’ve got to deliver the free port, we’ve got to deliver those investment opportunities in Northern Ireland. And that is ultimately what people in Northern Ireland care about and why people will vote conservative in Northern Ireland is for those reasons.
So what I can tell you is I will make sure the person in that job is the absolute best at delivering for the people of Northern Ireland.
The next question Liz Truss answers is about the support the Tory party in Northern Ireland gets. The Tory member asking the questions says they haven’t had the support they deserve.
Truss says:
I think you are absolutely right, that the Conservative party of Northern Ireland hasn’t received the support that it should have done over the years and what I’m committed to is making sure the Conservative party of Northern Ireland are a key part of my team and that they get the resources they need to attract new members.
It’s great news that we’re seeing more members join the Conservative party, but also that we’re putting more candidates up for election here in Northern Ireland because we are the Conservative and Unionist party. We believe in the union.
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The first audience member to ask Liz Truss a question points out that she that she didn’t mention restoring Stormont in her opening remarks. They ask her how she’ll do that
She said that until the issue of the NI protocol is sorted out, “we are not going to get Stormont back up and running”.
She continued:
And I’ve been in discussions with all of the parties in Northern Ireland, I’m determined to make it happen.
And as we make progress on the Northern Ireland protocol bill we will see power-sharing re-established in Northern Ireland, and as well the Belfast Good Friday agreement re-established.
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Liz Truss is addressing Brexit at the hustings in Belfast:
We need to sort out the bureaucracy across the Irish Sea so that we can see goods flowing freely from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and that’s why I put forward the solution of the green and the red lanes. We also need to sort out regulation and we need to make sure that the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax breaks as a people of Great Britain.
I worked hard to get a resolution with the EU on this issue. It wasn’t forthcoming, but I’m not somebody who’s prepared to let the situation drift. That’s why I developed the Northern Ireland protocol bill. I pushed it through we got it through the House of Commons and I am absolutely determined to deliver it in full and make sure it’s put into place because this is vital for the future of Northern Ireland and the future of the United Kingdom.
Liz Truss is making her opening statements at the hustings on the Culloden estate, near Belfast.
She says having grown up in both Scotland and England, she is a “child of the union”.
I believe that our union is one of the assets we have as a country. We’re not just neighbours. We’re family. And I want our family to stay together and never ever to split up.
And Northern Ireland is a key part of our fantastic union.
Asked about his wealth, Conservative leadership contender Rishi Sunak said “people can judge me by my actions”.
He told BBC Radio Ulster:
Well I think in our country we judge people by their character and their actions, not their bank account and people can judge me by my actions.
I was exactly the same person – and you mentioned the pandemic – who stood up at the beginning of the pandemic and created the furlough scheme and not just just the furlough scheme, but lots of other things to provide considerable support to millions of families, businesses across the country at a time that was enormously worrying and everywhere I go I have people come and talk to me about that and how it made a difference to their lives.
I’m the same person now and that’s why as chancellor I announced significant support for energy bills earlier this year which I think almost all independent commentators agreed was particularly well targeted at helping the most vulnerable in our society.
That’s what I did and that’s what I would continue to do and people can be reassured that as they’ve seen me do that over the past few years, they can trust me to continue to do that as prime minister.
The latest Tory leadership hustings is due to start in Belfast shortly.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are likely to be grilled on the Northern Ireland protocol, restoring Stormont, the cost of living crisis, today’s inflation news and Truss’ controversial comments about British workers needing “more graft”.
The leadership contenders will be speaking at Culloden Hotel in Cultra, County Down at 1pm.
Up to 250 audience members made up of Conservative party members and their guests will quiz the candidates on their record and policy pledges.
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Rishi Sunak said he “would go further as prime minister and ensure that more support was targeted particularly on the most vulnerable”.
The Conservative leadership hopeful told BBC Radio Ulster:
Well I know that millions of people across the UK are anxious about the rising cost of living, particularly energy bills, and I think it’s the most immediate challenge facing the country.
Now as chancellor I put in place support, I would go further as prime minister and ensure that more support was targeted particularly on the most vulnerable, and by that I mean two groups in particular: those families on low incomes and also pensioners.
And under my plan those groups would get extra financial support directly over the autumn and winter.
I would, as I did as chancellor, ensure that that support was delivered UK-wide to benefit those people in Northern Ireland because I know it’s an anxious time and it’s right that we support the most vulnerable at a time like that, and that’s what I would do as prime minister.
The veteran retailer Stuart Rose has urged the government to do more to shield the poorest from double-digit inflation, describing the lack of action as “horrifying”, with a prime minister “on shore leave” leaving a situation where “nobody is in charge”.
Responding to July’s 10.1% headline rate, the Conservative peer and Asda chair said: “We have been very, very slow in recognising this train coming down the tunnel and it’s run quite a lot of people over and we now have to deal with the aftermath of that.”
Attacking a lack of leadership while Boris Johnson is away on holiday, he said: “We’ve got to have some action. The captain of the ship is on shore leave, right, nobody’s in charge at the moment.”
Lord Rose, who is a former boss of Marks & Spencer, said action was needed to kill “pernicious” inflation, which “erodes wealth over time”. He dismissed claims by the prime ministerial candidate Liz Truss’s camp that it would be possible for the UK to grow its way out of the crisis.
Rose told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Nothing is happening, we are sitting here now into the second, third, fourth month into this crisis and we’re still waiting to see what action will be taken. It’s horrifying. I would like to see us looking after those who need it most.
He said inflation was “going to be painful for everybody” and “picks on the poorest hardest, but we have to deal with it, we can’t ignore it”.
Warning that he believed interest rates would have to rise further to tackle rising prices, Rose said he believed the UK was “heading towards a recession”.
Read more here:
Conservative leadership contender Rishi Sunak said “my plan is the same as Liz’s plan” in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol.
He told BBC Radio Ulster:
I think actually both Liz and I are supporting the same bill that is in parliament, that we both support and so in that sense there isn’t a difference between us.
My plan is the same as Liz’s plan, which is to push on and pass the bill that is in parliament, and I’m confident that that’s the right way to resolve the situation, and people should be in no doubt that under my premiership that bill would continue to make its way through parliament and become law.
He added:
Look, what’s very clear is that we need to ensure that all strands of the Belfast Good Friday agreement are respected and at the moment it’s pretty clear that particularly the east-west strand of that agreement and obviously the lack of a functioning executive are not working and that needs resolution.
I will be privileged and proud to be a prime minister of the entire UK and that means ensuring Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and as is currently being implemented the protocol is not making that possible and it needs to be fixed.
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Unions warn cost of living crisis has become 'living nightmare'
Unions are warning that the cost-of-living crisis has become a “living nightmare” for workers as the soaring rate of inflation is set to fuel more strikes.
The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said inflation had reached “new perilous levels” for workers and their families.
Yesterday, real wages fell to the lowest on record, so if today’s figures prove anything it’s that wages are not driving inflation.
Since the pandemic, the FTSE top 350 have seen profits soar by 43%. Britain has a profiteering crisis - when is something going to be done about that?
The Unison assistant general secretary, Jon Richards, said:
The cost-of-living crisis has become a living nightmare for millions of working people.
Wages are slumping at a record rate while prices and bills shoot up. But the government and those angling to be the next PM appear indifferent to the plight of those struggling to make ends meet.
Ministers are deluded if they think workers can put up with yet more misery. Above-inflation pay rises are essential to rescue families on the brink.
Unite says it is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said:
Families are facing a cost-of-living emergency. Ministers must cancel the catastrophic rise to energy bills this autumn, and to reduce future inflationary pressures and make energy more affordable, they should bring energy retail into public ownership.
To help people with the cost of living this winter, government should bring forward increases to universal credit and the national minimum wage.
Companies that were supported by the taxpayer through the pandemic must step up to help too. They should show profit restraint to help keep prices down and to prioritise pay rises for staff.
Industrial disputes have spread across the economy, from barristers to rail workers, with unions attempting to negotiate pay rises close to inflation. A fresh round of rail strikes will start on Thursday, BT, Royal Mail and Post Office workers will walk out from next week, and health workers including nurses are to start voting on strikes over pay.
Follow our business liveblog here:
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Liz Truss has refused to recognise the importance of animal welfare in post-Brexit trade deals, the environment secretary has said.
George Eustice was speaking at the Conservative Environment Network Tory leadership hustings on behalf of Rishi Sunak, and said he faced “challenges” in trying to get Truss to enshrine animal welfare in trade deals.
He said:
He’s got a position that I am much more comfortable with than I suspect will be the position with Liz Truss, and that is the position on international trade: he has made it clear that we shouldn’t compromise on animal welfare standards.
It is fair to say there were some challenges I had in getting Liz Truss to recognise the importance of animal welfare in particular and that we should reflect it in trade agreements.
The hustings was a tempestuous affair, with the international environment minister, Zac Goldsmith, representing Truss. Goldsmith claimed Sunak never showed up to climate-related cabinet meetings as chancellor and said he tried to trim funds for international wildlife programmes.
Goldsmith said:
I do worry based on my experience what a Rishi administration would look like. Rishi never once attended a single climate cabinet. He simply couldn’t even give a quote for a dusty old government press release when the Dasgupta review [into the economics of biodiversity] came out.
Goldsmith said this was “hugely disappointing”, adding:
There were many times when I have had to fight back efforts from the Treasury who wanted to trim back the international nature budget.
Neither candidate attended the hustings, instead submitting written statements. Truss said she was an “environmentalist before it was cool” and recommitted to implementing a British nature survey, and Sunak promised to invest in carbon capture and storage as well as in renewables.
The Green party MP Caroline Lucas accused the pair of “bunking off”, adding: “Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak can’t even be bothered to take to a virtual Zoom stage for an hour on a Wednesday morning to discuss the greatest crisis we face.”
Read more here:
Nadhim Zahawi has criticised Labour’s plan to freeze fuel bills, saying it would reward “people like me who are the wealthier end of the spectrum”.
Speaking during a visit to a school holiday club in south-east London, the chancellor told reporters:
They talk about paying for some of it because inflation would come down.
What we see today, actually inflation plays through on food costs and so their numbers are out on this and they need to work out and be honest with the nation how they’re going to pay for this.
The other problem with it is, actually, you’re rewarding people like me who are the wealthier end of the spectrum and people who might have very high energy uses and be wealthy.
Is that the right thing to do when money’s tight, when we should be targeting it to deliver that help and be resilient against Putin? Is that really the right thing to do, to waste money on wealthier households that have high consumption?
I don’t think that’s right, with respect to Keir Starmer.
Nadhim Zahawi highlighted the potential for higher productivity to fund more public service roles like doctors and teachers as he defended Liz Truss’s remark about British workers needing “more graft”.
The chancellor was speaking to broadcasters at Sydenham School in south-east London.
Asked if he agreed with Truss’s comment that British workers need “more graft”, Zahawi said:
Well, what Liz Truss was talking about is can we improve productivity in the United Kingdom.
Every percentage point of productivity improvement means the economy improves, we can pay for more nurses and doctors and teachers, as we see in this brilliant school with the holiday activities programme that they are running here, and all other services... and of course have that safety net for those people who need it most.
That’s what Liz is all about.
Nadhim Zahawi said it was his “responsibility” to prepare options for tackling the cost-of-living crisis for Liz Truss if she becomes prime minister.
The chancellor, who is backing Truss in the Tory leadership contest, was asked by reporters what extra help she would give to struggling households, and replied:
Liz has said a couple of things: one is that she will have a moratorium on the energy levies, which will help with energy costs. She will also reverse the national insurance increase, which again will help those families that really need help.
But what she has also said is she won’t be writing a budget on the leadership campaign, she will do it once she walks into Number 10.
My task, my responsibility, is to give her the options to be able to make that decision of how she targets the help for those families that we know are going to need it as we get through winter, and as we know that Putin will continue to use energy as a tool to get back at us for the help we are putting into Ukraine.
We must remain united in the face of this threat on our continent. It is not right, I think, that we begin to divide and turn it into a domestic issue.
Zahawi had earlier said he was preparing options for the incoming prime minister to “hit the ground running” on 5 September.
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Nadhim Zahawi has denied that the government is waiting to provide families with additional support amid the energy crisis.
Asked why the country has to wait until January for support, while the Labour party has set out a plan to freeze fuel bills, the chancellor told reporters in London:
We’re not waiting. We’ve got £37bn and we’re part of the way through that, so £400 in the next couple of months off people’s energy bills for everybody.
The 8 million people who need the most urgent help are getting at least 1,200 of additional direct payments to them.
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The chancellor vowed to “leave no stone unturned” in working out options for the next prime minister to offer businesses and families more support amid the cost-of-living crisis.
During a visit to a holiday club for children at a south-east London school, Nadhim Zahawi told reporters:
We leave no stone unturned. I’m looking at every option to be ready for 5 September for additional support.
My message to your viewers, whether they are small businesses or families who are really struggling or really worried, as you say, is that we’ll be ready for more support as the new prime minister comes in.
Nadhim Zahawi insisted the government was not missing in action during the cost-of-living crisis.
Speaking to broadcasters at a holiday club at Sydenham School in south-east London, the chancellor said:
I don’t agree with that, nor do I recognise it. The moment I walked into the Treasury on July 5, I gathered my top leadership team.
We are working night and day to make sure we get this done and have all the options for the incoming prime minister for more help for both households that are really struggling and for small businesses.
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Belfast hustings offers Truss and Sunak little to gain and lots to lose
The mere fact that a Tory leadership hustings is taking place in Northern Ireland at all is enough to raise eyebrows among Conservative party members elsewhere, looking across the Irish Sea at a local party believed to number just a few hundred.
But few are likely to begrudge a moment in the sun for the Northern Irish Conservatives, who have long faced an uphill struggle. A Stormont candidate in 2017 got just 27 first preference votes, languishing last behind a Christian activist who wanted to criminalise adultery.
For Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, however, their appearance in Belfast is fraught with risk, party observers and insiders agree, with the potential for any number of banana skins to slip on – from being quizzed on the Northern Ireland protocol and the government’s Troubles “legacy” plans to being asked about basic historical detail.
“Northern Ireland Conservatives are a well-intentioned bunch of people including people who have wanted to chart a political course beyond orange and green but they have also been really divided and factional. There’s always been a People’s Front for the Liberation of Judea aspect,” a former Conservative adviser who worked in Northern Ireland said.
“So for the candidates it’ll be high risk, as well as annoying in terms of having [to] devote resources, but it’ll be like Christmas for the local party, many of whom feel neglected and forgotten about.”
After years of often not even being able to vote for a Tory candidate – the party stood in only four Northern Ireland constituencies in the last general election – each member now has an actual vote for the next prime minister in what is an electorate that represents a tiny fraction of the UK’s population.
Read more of this analysis ahead of the hustings at 1pm here:
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London’s mayor has warned of a rise in shootings and stabbings amid concerns that the increasing cost of living could lead to more violence and make it easier for gangs to lure vulnerable young people.
Sadiq Khan said millions of pounds more were being put into schemes to turn people away from violence. The Labour mayor has been criticised by some for his record on crime.
Khan said more than half of shootings in London and nearly a quarter of homicides were believed to be linked to gangs. Gang exit schemes are being boosted by £2m.
The mayor said:
I am concerned about a potential increase in violence this summer as the cost of living crisis deepens and threatens to reverse the progress we have made in tackling violent crime. Violence, like poverty, is not inevitable and the government must now do much more to show it shares my commitment to building a fairer, safer London for all.
The mayor said he had put a total of more than £8m into a gang exit programme that had helped hundreds of young people to move away from crime.
The scheme, led by the charity Safer London, has helped 430 young people, with 83% significantly reducing or leaving gang activity.
Sherry Peck, who leads Safer London, said she believed poverty, alienation and trauma left young people vulnerable to being groomed and recruited into violence.
Read more here:
Politicians from across the divide have expressed support for senior Conservative MP William Wragg after he said he would be taking a break to deal with depression and anxiety.
PA News reports:
He said both conditions are currently “severe” but he looks forward to “returning refreshed, better able to represent my constituents, loving life and myself a little bit more”.
Banishing the black dog 👋🐶 pic.twitter.com/fnU24MpCGM
— William Wragg MP (@William_Wragg) August 16, 2022
The MP for Hazel Grove, in Greater Manchester, said his constituents could continue to contact his office for assistance as he shared his experience in a Twitter post titled “banishing the black dog”.
The chairman of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee wrote:
I have lived with depression and anxiety for most of my adult life. At the moment, both are severe.
I am resisting the temptation to give up entirely. As such, I require a short break. I know that how I feel is far from unique. I would say to anyone who feels similarly, that they should speak to someone they trust, seek and accept support.
Do not assume those who are outwardly confident and successful are without doubts and despair. I am only making this statement as an explanation, instead of giving recurrent excuses.
My constituents can continue to contact my office when they require assistance. My hard-working team will continue to do their utmost to help them. In the meantime, I look forward to returning refreshed, better able to represent my constituents, loving life and myself a little bit more.
MPs responded on Twitter to send him their best wishes and to thank him for being open about his mental health experience, in the hope that it helps others too.
Former chancellor Sajid Javid said: “So sorry to hear this and thank you for speaking up. Hope you feel better soon my friend.”
Labour MP for Warrington North Charlotte Nichols tweeted:
I hope your time out is restorative, look after yourself! Living alongside mental illness in roles like ours is tough (I speak from experience), but you’re far from alone and hopefully your openness will help others too.
Tory Huw Merriman said: “Sending my best wishes to Will; his openness will provide a signpost to the road to recovery for others in need of help and support.”
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The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has commented on the soaring inflation rates.
She said the Conservatives were too busy fighting among themselves and were “ignoring the scale of this crisis”.
She said:
We must get a grip on rising inflation leaving families worried sick about making ends meet.
Labour’s fully-costed plan to freeze the energy price cap will bring inflation down this winter, easing the burden on households and businesses.
And it will mean that households won’t pay a penny more for their energy bills this winter.
People are worried sick and, while the Tories are busy fighting and ignoring the scale of this crisis, only Labour can give Britain the fresh start it needs.
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On Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze the energy price cap, Conservative former cabinet minister Sajid Javid said: “I don’t think his numbers added up at all.”
He told Sky News:
When you’re in opposition you’re never going to be held accountable for what you say, so you say what sounds good. I listened to what Keir Starmer had to say yesterday, I don’t think his numbers added up at all.
He added:
She’s [Liz Truss] thinking very carefully about the commitments, rightly so and she’s made some solid commitments, but one of those clearly is to have this emergency budget, as I say, will happen within weeks and to take further action.
Nothing has been taken off the table because she recognises as I do and as I think most politicians do, is that this is a very, very serious crisis for families at home. They would have looked at that inflation number today and whilst it might not be a shock because of what the Bank of England said recently, that doesn’t make it any less palpable to anyone. People will be worried and Liz is going to be the right person to deal with this.
Asked if support would be blanket or targeted, he added:
I think you don’t have to choose between the two... What she has said with the tax cuts, of course that will benefit everyone, but having a look at if targeted action can be taken, I’m sure that will be considered when it comes to the emergency budget.
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The cost of living crisis is a concern particularly for pensioners who “won’t be able to earn more money”, former Treasury minister John Glen has said.
He told the BBC:
It is obviously a very significant concern for those on fixed incomes. And my major concern is how we’re going to support the most vulnerable, particularly pensioners who won’t be able to earn more money.
Amid such concerns, he accused Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss of causing “confusion”.
He told the BBC:
We need to know what Liz Truss is going to do because what we’ve heard so far is a lot of confusion, frankly, not an inclination to do any more handouts, lots of tax cuts that won’t affect pensioners, but will have a significant effect if they’re unfunded on the economy and inflationary pressures.
Sajid Javid: 'We need to cut taxes to get the economy going'
Sajid Javid, a former chancellor and a supporter of Liz Truss, the frontrunner to become the next prime minister, said he wasn’t shocked by the figures because we had recently heard the Bank of England’s forecast. He said on BBC radio 4’s Today programme:
It underlines the need to go forward with a credible economic plan that tackles inflation of course and the cost of living challenges which are immense but also a long-term plan for growth and that is one of the key reasons why I’m backing Liz Truss.
He said it’s a global problem, but things can be done at home, like providing the “right type of support to people” for example with energy bills, such as tax cuts, as Truss has hinted.
There will be an emergency budget within weeks of taking office if she is the new prime minister and this will be an absolute priority.
Asked whether there would be more handouts to people to help them through the cost of living crisis, he said:
She has also made clear that nothing is off the table. It does require immediate action and she recognises that.
Javid stressed:
Our long-term, what’s called the trend growth rate, has not recovered since the global financial crisis and we do need to do a lot more.
We cannot tax our way into growth with tax levels almost at the highest in 70 years. We need to address that and cut taxes to make further supply side reforms to get the economy going again.
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UK inflation hits 10.1%, driven by soaring food and fuel prices
UK inflation has risen above 10% for the first time in 40 years, driven by soaring prices for food and fuel as households come under mounting pressure from the cost of living crisis.
The Office for National Statistics said the consumer prices index rose by 10.1% in the year to July, up from a reading of 9.4% in June and entering double figures at an earlier stage than anticipated. The figure was last higher in February 1982.
The reading exceeded the 9.8% forecast from City economists, as the cost of food and drink rose at the highest rates since 2008 amid a broad-based inflationary burst across the economy.
The biggest increases came for bread and cereals, dairy, meat and vegetables, with the rising cost of food leading to record increases for restaurant and hotel prices and pushing up the cost of takeaways. Price rises for other staple items such as pet food, toilet rolls, toothbrushes and deodorants also sent inflation soaring.
Prices for package holidays and air fares rose sharply, driven by a summer rush reflected in packed airports across the country.
The latest figures will pile renewed pressure on the government and Conservative leadership candidates amid accusations the frontrunner, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, are failing to grasp the scale of the cost of living emergency.
Read the full story here:
The business desk are running a liveblog on this topic today. You can follow here:
If you haven’t heard it yet, here’s the audio recording of Liz Truss speaking about British workers.
The comments were made when Truss was the chief secretary to the Treasury, a post she held until 2019.
In the recording she intimated that there seemed little desire to change the working culture so that the UK could become more prosperous and suggested British workers lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals.
You can read more on this story from my colleague Pippa Crerar here:
Javid: 'British workers among hardest-working in the world'
British workers “are amongst the hardest-working in the world”, Conservative former cabinet minister Sajid Javid said.
Asked about Tory leadership contender Liz Truss’s claim that British workers need to produce “more graft”, he told Sky News:
That comment, as I understand it, was made a number of years ago; I don’t know the exact context that was made in.
What I also heard her say, just in that snippet that you played there, was that the productivity in the UK versus other comparable countries is generally lower and that’s been a longstanding UK problem and that doesn’t happen because British workers don’t work hard; British workers are amongst the hardest-working in the world.
He added:
I think what she’s talking about is business and investment, because to increase productivity the government of course has a huge role to play – there’s capital investment, things like infrastructure investment, for example, those areas that get more of it generally of course can do better in terms of productivity.
It’s also about skills investment and making sure that we’re investing in skills across the country, not just in the capital or the south-east but right across the country, and that is what’s going to make the difference, and Liz has a plan for that.
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Labour says Liz Truss comments about British workers a 'total disgrace'
The shadow home secretary has said comments from Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss, that British workers need “more graft”, are a “total disgrace”.
Yvette Cooper told Sky News:
I think it reveals what she really thinks. This comes after the proposal she put forward to cut public sector pay in the north and other parts of the country.
So teaching assistants or nurses here in Yorkshire would get paid less than people in London or the south-east.
Cooper also accused Liz Truss of being out of touch.
She said:
(She) has absolutely no idea that people are working incredibly hard – people who are getting up to go to their shifts right now, watching your programme just before they go to work, working incredibly hard to try and make ends meet, who are facing these nightmare inflation figures, the soaring energy bills and doing their best to keep everything together.
This insult just shows, I think, that [Truss] does not understand working people right across the country. It’s deeply wrong of her to say this.
Welcome to today’s politics liveblog. I’ll be covering for Andrew Sparrow today. Do drop me a line if you have any questions or think I’ve missed anything. My email is nicola.slawson@theguardian.com and I’m @Nicola_Slawson on Twitter.
On the agenda today is the eighth Conservative party leadership hustings. This time Truss and Rishi Sunak will be answering questions in Belfast at 1pm.
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