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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Conor Burns suggests Liz Truss should not have sacked him before groping claim investigated – as it happened

Liz Truss Victoria Prentis Inflation SNP
Conor Burns
Conor Burns Photograph: David Parry/PA

Early evening summary

  • Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, have abandoned plans to impose an outsider as the new permanent secretary in the Treasury. In a move that marks a significant retreat from the agenda championed by Truss during the Tory leadership campaign, when she identified “Treasury orthodoxy” as one of the factors holding back Britain, Truss and Kwarteng gave the Treasury job to James Bowler, who has spent most of his career at the department, instead of Antonio Romeo, the outsider who last week was all but guaranteed to get the job. Truss’s disregard for financial orthodoxy in her first five weeks in office has alarmed the financial markets, and put Conservative party poll ratings into freefall, and today’s move amounts to a significant reset. (See 1.28pm and 3.37pm.) It suggests she wants to govern more consensually, in collaboration with the UK’s economic establishment, not at war with it. The Bowler appointment coincided with the Treasury bringing forward by three weeks the publication of its fiscal plan and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecast (which will rule on the financial credibility Kwarteng’s £43bn tax cuts). See 10.18am. This was also a concession to Truss’s critics, who have complained about the way Kwarteng sidelined the OBR by not letting it publish a forecast alongside his mini-budget.

  • Conor Burns has said that the decision to sack him as a minister over a groping allegation that has not yet been investigated, and which he denies, was a breach of natural justice. (See 4.01pm.)

Liz Truss meeting members of England women's football team today.
Liz Truss meeting members of England women's football team today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, has claimed Scots will be dismayed by Nicola Sturgeon’s speech. In a statement he said:

Ordinary Scots watching Nicola Sturgeon’s narrow, independence-obsessed speech will have been dismayed at her skewed priorities.

This was red meat for the SNP faithful but it didn’t even have the pretence of being the speech of a first minister of Scotland.

It beggars belief that in the midst of a global cost-of-living crisis – which ought to be her top priority – Nicola Sturgeon devoted so much of her speech to the push for another divisive referendum that most Scots don’t want.

She has taken her eye off the ball again and proved that the SNP will never put the people’s priorities first. Their own, self-serving, constitutional obsession always takes priority over everything.

And this is what some Scottish political journalists are saying about Nicola Sturgeon’s conference speech. Earlier I said she was restating her commitment to turn the next general election into a de facto referendum on independence if the supreme court does not allow an actual referendum (see 5.09pm), but others detected a hint of rowing back in her words.

This is from STV’s Kathryn Samson

This is from Scotland on Sunday’s Euan McColm

And these are from the BBC’s Glenn Campbell.

And here are two more general points.

This is from the Daily Record’s Paul Hutcheon.

And this is from the former Sunday Post Westminster correspondent James Millar.

Sturgeon says she will carry on as Scotland's first minister 'for quite some time yet'

In her speech to the SNP conference Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said she planned to carry on as first minister “for quite some time yet”. As the BBC’s Philip Sim reports, this line got a standing ovation.

Sturgeon has been first minister for eight years already. Before that she had seven years as deputy first minister.

Updated

Sturgeon says she wants to make Aberdeen 'net zero capital of world'

And here are the policy announcements from Nicola Sturgeon’s speech to the SNP conference.

Nicola Sturgeon addressing the SNP conference this afternoon.
Nicola Sturgeon addressing the SNP conference this afternoon. Photograph: Andrew MacColl/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Sturgeon says Labour 'as committed to hard Brexit as Tories' - and 'at least Tories believe in it'

Here are the best lines from the Nicola Sturgeon speech on the Tories and Labour.

  • Sturgeon joked about how quickly the Tories had decided Liz Truss was a disaster. She said:

A new prime minister was driving through a disastrous policy agenda, despite warnings of its dire economic impact.

And here we are, all over again.

Another spin on the Tory misery-go-round.

This time the carousel is speeding up.

It took the Tories three years to realise Boris Johnson was a disaster.

With Liz Truss, it took them just three weeks.

  • Sturgeon condemned in particular Suella Braverman, the home secretary, for her comments about immigration at the Tory conference. She said:

The current home secretary, speaking at the Conservative party conference, said this about asylum seekers -

And even as I quote her, I struggle to comprehend that she actually said these words. But here they are:

“I would love to be having a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession.”

Conference

My dream is very different.

I am sure it is shared in this hall and by the vast majority across Scotland.

My dream is that we live in a world where those fleeing violence and oppression are shown compassion and treated like human beings…

Not shown the door and bundled on to planes like unwanted cargo.

  • Sturgeon criticised Labour for being committed to Brexit. She said:

Labour is now just as committed to Brexit - a hard Brexit - as the Tories.

At least the Tories believe in it.

Labour doesn’t.

Yet, rather than make the principled argument - which they could now win in England - they cower away from it.

They abandon all principle for fear of upsetting the apple cart.

Bluntly - they are willing to chuck Scotland under Boris Johnson’s Brexit bus to get the keys to Downing Street.

Updated

Sturgeon restates plan to turn election into de facto vote on independence if supreme court referendum bid fails

Here are the main lines from Nicola Sturgeon’s speech to the SNP conference on independence. I will post separately on what she said about the Tories and Labour, and about what she announced in terms of Scottish government policy.

  • Sturgeon reaffirmed her commitment to turn the next general election into a de facto referendum on independence if the supreme court rules that Westminster can stop the Scottish government organising a proper one. She said:

If the court decides in the way we hope it does, on 19 October next year, there will be an independence referendum.

And if the court doesn’t decide that way?

First, and obviously, we will respect that judgment. We believe in the rule of law.

And as a party - and a movement - we will, of course, reflect.

But fundamentally, it will leave us with a very simple choice.

Put our case for independence to the people in an election …

Or give up on Scottish democracy.

Conference. I don’t know about you - actually I suspect I do…

But I will never - ever - give up on Scottish democracy.

But Sturgeon has not explained how, in practice, a majority vote for parties backing independence at the next general election could led to independence actually taking place without the consent of Westminster, and today she again chose not to elaborate on this.

  • She said support for Scottish independence in Scotland was steadily rising. In 2012 it was at 23%, she said; five years ago it was at 45%, and now it is at 52%, she said.

  • She urged campaigners to focus their attention on people who are undecided. She said:

I remember in the 2014 campaign speaking at a public meeting in Leith.

It was jam-packed…

So busy, in fact, that the organisers asked those who had already decided to vote yes to leave, so that those still undecided could hear the arguments.

That is the approach I want us to take now.

  • She mocked unionist arguments against independence. She said:

Back in 2014, the Westminster establishment told us it was the UK’s standing in the world;

its economic strength; and its stability that made independence impossible.

Now they say it’s the UK’s isolation, its weakness and instability - the very conditions they created - that means change can’t happen.

As far as Westminster is concerned, it’s heads they win, tails we lose.

  • She said Scottish independence would improve relations between the nations in what is now the UK, creating a “partnership of equals”. (See 3.26pm.)

  • She said the Scottish government would publish a new paper on the economic case for independence next week. It will include plans for a Building a New Scotland fund, that could deliver investment worth £20bN in the first decade of independence, she said.

Nicola Sturgeon delivering her conference speech.
Nicola Sturgeon delivering her conference speech. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

Labour MP Sam Tarry facing deselection vote tonight

The former shadow transport minister Sam Tarry faces a bid to deselect him as an MP on Monday night.

Tarry, a former senior trade union official who helped organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, will face Jas Athwal at a hustings in front of members who could vote to oust him, after every local branch in his constituency voted to trigger the full reselection proceedings.

The result of the ballot is expected after the hustings, which begins at 7pm. If attempts to oust Tarry are successful, he will be the first Labour MP to be deselected in more than a decade.

Both sides have briefed they are confident of victory. Tarry’s allies say his campaign was boosted when he was sacked as a shadow transport minister in July after attending a picket line in support of RMT workers. Labour said the dismissal was down to remarks in interviews he conducted on the picket lines about pay inflation which were not party policy.

Athwal, a close ally of several Labour MPs, including Wes Streeting, was favourite for selection for the Ilford South seat in 2019 but was suspended from the party shortly before the selection battle after a harassment complaint.

Athwal was later cleared of wrongdoing and claimed the complaint was malicious and his suspension politically motivated. In his absence, Tarry won the selection battle and went on to be elected with a majority of more than 24,000.

Tarry, who is in a relationship with Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, told the Guardian he had signed up around 300 volunteers to work for his reselection and said he would be running a positive campaign based on his record.

Updated

Truss says latest Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities sign of 'increasing desperation' by Putin

Liz Truss has spoken to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and told him that the latest attacks on Kyiv and other cities are a sign of “increasing desperation” by Vladimir Putin. In a readout of their call, No 10 said:

[The PM] strongly condemned Putin’s appalling attacks on civilian areas in Kyiv and elsewhere today. The prime minister said that these are a sign of Ukrainian success and increasing desperation by Putin in response.

The prime minister stressed that the UK stands wholeheartedly behind President Zelenskiy and Ukraine. Putin’s destructive rhetoric and behaviour will not diminish our resolve. The leaders welcomed the deliveries of British military aid which continue to arrive in Ukraine.

The prime minister and President Zelenskiy looked ahead to tomorrow’s virtual meeting of G7 leaders, which President Zelenskiy will join. They agreed it offers an important opportunity to re-emphasise the unity of opposition to Putin’s despicable campaign.

Updated

Conor Burns says Truss's decision to sack him before inquiry into groping allegations breaches 'natural justice'

Conor Burns has criticised Liz Truss’s decision to sack him as an international trade minister over a groping allegation that has not yet been investigated. Speaking to Serena Barker-Singh, from Channel 4 News, Burns said this was against natural justice. He said:

I’ve been overwhelmed by the support from my colleagues who have found it beyond strange that the whip was withdrawn, and I was sacked from ministerial office, without being given the opportunity to be told what the allegation was, or how I could engage in the process to respond to it.

I used to live in a country where the rule of law, natural justice and a process took place, and where people were presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Asked if he thought he should have been suspended, instead of sacked, from his ministerial post, Burns said he was not going to say any more, “but I think you can realise what I think”.

Burns said he had not yet been told the nature of the allegations against him, or how they would be investigated by the party. He said he looked forward to that investigation and to clearing his name.

Updated

Starmer says he would not say he 'detests' Tories, as Sturgeon said she did

Keir Starmer has said he would not following Nicola Sturgeon in saying that he “detests” the Tories.

Asked about her comment yesterday (which she subsequently clarified – see 12.02pm), Starmer said he would not use that language himself. He explained:

I disagree with the Tories, I think there’s a fundamental disagreement at the moment: they think that we grow the economy by making the rich richer, and somehow it trickles down to working people.

I think we build the economy on working people who are those that go out to work every day and actually build our economy.

I disagree fundamentally, with Conservatives, but I wouldn’t use [that] language of detesting them. We disagree. This is a battle of ideas, and that’s what it should be.

Keir Starmer during a visit to the Vaillant factory in Belper, Derbyshire.
Keir Starmer during a visit to the Vaillant factory in Belper, Derbyshire. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Senior Tory Mel Stride welcomes appointment of 'safe pair of hands' to run Treasury

When Boris Johnson was prime minister, he was often accused of running a Vote Leave government rather than a conventional Conservative one. There was a similar shock to the system when Liz Truss took power, with the mini-budget giving the impression that for the first time in history Britain was being run by a radical, convention-defying Institute of Economic Affairs/Taxpayers’ Alliance administration.

Today’s developments – particulary the appointment of James Bowler as permanent secretary at the Treasury (see 10.41am, 1.28pm and 1.35pm), but other developments too (see 11.01am) – suggest that, after five weeks, the IEA/TPA-inspired government has been shown the door, and orthodoxy has regained control. That is certainly the impression Mel Stride gave when he spoke on the World at One. Commenting on the Bowler appointment, Stride, a leading supporter of Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest, said:

I would say, at first take, that that’s a good move because what we need at the moment are a safe pairs of hands. We need to rely on our solid institutions, we don’t want to be undermining those in any way.

I worked with James when I was a Treasury minister some years back. He is a very credible, very capable individual who I think will make a big contribution to reassuring markets.

Quite how significant today’s developments are will become clear in the coming days, as the government unveils details of its plans for supply side reforms, and when the fiscal plan is published at the end of the month. But some of the plans that have been floated, like planning reforms perhaps, may receive less backing from No 10 under the new regime than they would have done a week ago, when Truss was planning to install Antonia Romeo at the Treasury.

Mel Stride.
Mel Stride. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

Updated

Scottish independence would establish 'partnership of equals' in UK, says Sturgeon

In Aberdeen, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is just starting her speech at the close of the Scottish National party conference. You can watch it live below.

In extracts from her speech released in advance, she says Scottish independence would establish a “partnership of equals” within the UK. It would not involve Scotland turning its back on England, Wales or the island of Ireland. She says:

I know some see independence as turning our back on the rest of the UK. It is not – it is about recasting our relationship as one of equals.

There is a point here that at first glance might seem curious – but it is in my view, becoming increasingly true.

Independence is actually the best way to protect the partnership on which the United Kingdom was founded – a voluntary partnership of nations.

Right now, an aggressive unionism is undermining that partnership.

Westminster’s denial of Scottish democracy. Full frontal attacks on devolution. A basic lack of respect. It is these which are causing tension and fraying the bonds between us.

Scottish independence can reset and renew the whole notion of nations working together for the common good.

England, Scotland, Wales, the island of Ireland. We will always be the closest of friends. We will always be family. But we can achieve a better relationship – a true partnership of equals – when we win Scotland’s independence.

I will post a full summary of the speech once its over.

Updated

Liz Truss has met the Euro 2022-winning women’s football team, giving them their first prime ministerial meeting since they became the first England squad to win a title for 56 years, PA Media reports. PA says:

More than two months after their victory, the prime minister watched the women’s team take part in a training match for around three minutes at the Lensbury Resort in south-west London.

During the Tory leadership campaign, all 23 members of the winning squad wrote to Truss and her then-rival Rishi Sunak demanding “real change” for women’s football.

The team said they see their victory as “only the beginning” and demanded that all schoolgirls have access to a minimum of two hours a week of sports classes.

At the time, Truss’s campaign said she was “committed to investigating what prevents schools” from providing two hours of PE per week and “wants equal access to all sports for boys and girls”.

Boris Johnson was present for the men’s loss to Italy a year earlier but chose to watch the women from his Chequers country retreat, forcing his spokesman to deny a snub to the Lionesses.

He also failed to host a Downing Street reception for the triumphant team.

Liz Truss meeting members of the England women’s football team at the Lensbury Resort, Teddington, south-west London.
Liz Truss meeting members of the England women’s football team at the Lensbury Resort, Teddington, south-west London. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

No 10 says it is up to individuals to decide if they want to use less energy, not for government to tell them they should

Back to the Downing Street lobby briefing, and here is a summary of the main points.

  • No 10 claimed that the government was seeking to provide people with information that would enable them to cut their energy bills – while refusing to explicitly advise people to use less energy. Asked about reports that Liz Truss has personally vetoed plans for an advertising campaign that would have advised people to use less energy, the PM’s spokesperson said Truss had not been involved in discussions on that point. But he claimed the government was already raising awareness on this issue. He said:

We are committed to ensuring the public has the information they need and we are using that campaign to signpost out to where there is more information, for example on Ofgem’s site.

We will continue to look at ways to use that Help for Households site and the campaign to signpost information on how the public can further cut their energy bills. We have not made final decisions on the best way to do this and discussions are ongoing.

Many journalists at the briefing were not aware of the Help for Households website, which does not look like a campaign to cut energy use. Asked why the government was not willing to advise people directly to use less energy, the spokesperson replied:

The prime minister’s view is that the government’s role in this is to ensure that we are providing a level of support so that these global factors are not unfairly impacting on the public. It is down to individuals to decide what is right for them, with all the information provided to them via things like the Help for Households site.

  • The spokesperson appeared to confirm a Guardian report saying the government wants to change the rules to discourage solar farms from being installed on farmland. Asked about the story by my colleague Helena Horton, the spokesperson said:

I can point you back to what the prime minister said, I think at the start of September, when she said she doesn’t think we should be putting solar panels on productive agricultural lands, because obviously as well as the energy security issue, we face a food security issue. So we need to strike the right balance.

  • The spokesperson said Truss and fellow G7 leaders will hold crisis talks on the situation in Ukraine tomorrow. He said:

Contrary to Putin’s ludicrous rhetoric, we’re clear it’s the Ukrainians who have seen their lives destroyed by needless and senseless Russian violence, and we will continue to support them to ensure Russia fails in Ukraine.

We are keeping a close eye on these increasingly reckless tactics being used by Russia in response to Ukraine’s advance.

  • The spokesperson confirmed that Truss wants to take a stricter approach to misconduct by ministers than her predecessor, Boris Johnson, did. (See 12.57pm.)

  • The spokesperson hinted that a decision on whether benefits are uprated in line with inflation next year could be announced before November. Victoria Prentis, a welfare minister, said this morning the decision would be announced before the end of next month. But the PM’s spokesperson implied it could come before then. He said:

Obviously we want to make sure we’ve got the relevant information, not least the inflation figures, before making decisions, but clearly we recognise there’s a significant level of interest in this as an issue and we’ll provide any updates as soon as possible.

  • The spokesperson refused to confirm that all eight announcements relating to supply side reforms that were due to come before the fiscal plan will still get published ahead of it, now that its date has been brought forward by three weeks. (See 10.18am.) The measures will include changes to the planning system, business regulations, childcare, immigration, agricultural productivity and digital infrastructure.

  • The spokesperson said the government has no plans to classify cannabis as a class A drug. At the weekend the Sunday Times said Suella Braverman, the home secretary, was considering this. It said Braverman has “told allies she is on the ‘same side’ as a group of Conservative police and crime commissioners (PCCs) who in recent days have called for the drug to be put on a par with cocaine”. But No 10 said: “There’s no plans to change the laws around cannabis.” And a Home Office source told PA Media it was “a very big stretch of the imagination” to say she wanted the drug upgraded but she was “receptive” to ideas put forward by Conservative police and crime commissioners who had called for the tougher stance.

  • No 10 disowned a briefing describing Michael Gove as sadistic. Yesterday the Mail on Sunday said that Truss had met Gove, who has emerged as one of her strongest backbench critics, before the party conference. The paper quoted an unnamed No 10 aide as saying:

It was the right thing to do, to invite him in. Michael asked for Liz’s advice and she told him to enjoy himself. Michael clearly gets his kicks in a sadistic way.

Asked if the PM thought Gove was a sadist, the spokeperson replied: “No.” But he would not comment any further on the anti-Gove briefing. And he would not discuss claims that Truss, in her conversation with Gove, hinted that she might appoint him ambassador to Israel or to the United Arab Emirates.

Larry the cat outside Downing Street.
Larry the cat outside Downing Street. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

As the FT’s George Parker reports, the Treasury press release announcing the appointment of James Bowler as the new permanent secretary (see 1.28pm) contains four references to Bowler having spent more than 20 years working in the department.

There are also two references to Beth Russell, one of the two new second permanent secretaries, having also worked at the Treasury for more than 20 years.

Kwarteng abandons plan to make outsider head of Treasury, stressing value of 'continuity' as he gives job to James Bowler

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, has announced that James Bowler has been appointed as permanent secretary at the Treasury. Bowler is currently permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, but he has spent most of his career at the Treasury.

And Cat Little and Beth Russell have been appointed as second permanent secretaries. Little is currently director general of public spending at the Treasury, and Russell is director general of tax and welfare, as well as head of the Darlington Economic Campus.

During the Tory leadership campaign Liz Truss claimed that Treasury orthodoxy was largely to blame for Britain’s growth rate being so poor. She told the Today programme in July:

The fact is we’ve had economic policy – not just under this government, for the past two decades – there’s been a consensus on our economic policy, and it hasn’t delivered economic growth ....

We have had a consensus of the Treasury, of economists, of the Financial Times, of other outlets, peddling a particular type of economic policy for the last 20 years. And it hasn’t delivered growth ...

What I know about the Treasury from having worked there is they do have an economic orthodoxy and they do resist change. And what people in Britain desperately need now is change.

Kwarteng backed this analysis, and this was one reason why on his first day as chancellor he sacked the permanent secretary, Tom Scholar, in defiance of a convention that civil servants should not be dismissed for political reasons. At the end of last week some reporters were briefed that Scholar was likely to be replaced by Antonia Romeo, a permanent secretary, but someone who is seen as a disrupter, who started her career outside the civil service and – crucially – who would bring a fresh approach to the Treasury, having never worked there before. (See 10.41am.)

But, in its news release announcing Bowler’s appointment, the government stresses his credentials as a long-term Treasury insider. Kwarteng said in a statement:

I’m delighted to welcome James back to the Treasury and Beth and Cat into their new roles as second permanent secretaries. James joined the civil service over 20 years ago and has enormous experience delivering across a range of government departments. Beth and Cat bring experience and continuity and it’s fantastic to have them as part of the Treasury’s top team.

And Bowler said:

I am delighted to be returning to HM Treasury. Having spent over 20 years at the department, I know first-hand the excellence of its people. I plan to bring my wider experience back to the department to help navigate the opportunities and challenges of the global economy that lie ahead.

Updated

Truss wants to take stricter approach to misconduct by ministers than Boris Johnson, No 10 confirms

Liz Truss has been criticised for her robust treatment of Conor Burns, who was sacked at the end of last week as an international trade minister after allegedly being seen touching a young man’s thigh in a hotel bar at the Tory conference. Burns denies wrongdoing, the complaint reportedly came from a third party, not the individual involved, and Paul Goodman, the editor of the influential ConservativeHome website, has argued that it would have been fairer to suspend Burns as a minister, pending an investigation, rather than sack him outright. “This offends natural justice,” Goodman wrote.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson was asked if this meant Truss was intentionally taking a stricter approach to “sleaze”. He confirmed it did. He said:

The prime minister talked in the [leadership] campaign [about how] she wants to maintain a high standard. That’s her expectation of ministers when it comes to their behaviour. It’s what the public expects. Those [standards] will continue to be enforced.

Asked if he was saying ministers needed to be more careful about their conduct, the spokesperson replied:

I think the public expect high standards [when people are] appointed to government roles.

Boris Johnson, Truss’ predecessor, was seen as reluctant to discipline ministers or MPs accused of misconduct, and even though he suspended Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip after a groping allegation, the subsequent revelation that he had ignored warnings about Pincher’s conduct when he appointed him ultimately led to his being forced to resign as PM.

I will post more from the lobby briefing shortly.

Updated

UK imposes sanctions on Iran's morality police over repression of women, James Cleverly announces

The UK government has imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police, as well as leading figures seen as responsible for human rights violations, in the light of the death of the Mahsa Amini in custody and the crackdown that followed the nationwide protests triggered by her killing.

Announcing the sanctions, James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said:

The UK stands with the people of Iran who are bravely calling for accountability from their government and for their fundamental human rights to be respected.

These sanctions send a clear message to the Iranian authorities – we will hold you to account for your repression of women and girls and for the shocking violence you have inflicted on your own people.

The sanctions cover what the Foreign Office calls “the so-called morality police” in its entirety, including its chief, Mohammed Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi, and the head of its Tehran division, Haj Ahmed Mirzaei.

Five other people are being targeted for their role in repressing fuel-related protests in 2019: Gholamreza Soleimani (head of the Basij Organisation); Hassan Karami (commander of the NAJA (police) special unit); Hossein Ashtari (commander-in-chief of Iran’s police forces); Leila Vaseghi (former governor of Shahr-e Qods province); and Hassan Shahvarpour (commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Khuzestan province and deputy of the south-west Karbala HQ).

Under the sanctions, assets held in the UK are frozen and individuals are prevented from travelling to the UK.

James Cleverly.
James Cleverly. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, triggered a row when she told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “I detest the Tories and everything they stand for, so it’s not difficult to answer that question, so yes.” It wasn’t quite Aneurin Bevan (who once described the Tories as “lower than vermin”), but the comment was described by a UK cabinet minister as “dangerous”.

Sturgeon subsequently insisted she meant she detested Tory policies and values, not individuals, and this morning John Swinney, the deputy first minister, endorsed the clarified version of what Sturgeon said. He told BBC Breakfast:

The first minister said that she detested Conservative policies and the values of the Conservative party. And I associate myself with those comments.

Because I think what’s clear is the Conservatives are taking the United Kingdom in a direction which is profoundly damaging for many people in our society.

John Swinney addressing the SNP conference in Aberdeen yesterday.
John Swinney addressing the SNP conference in Aberdeen yesterday. Photograph: Stuart Wallace/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

At the SNP conference in Aberdeen delegates have voted for a motion calling for the introduction of a new “kindergarten” stage in education, raising the school starting age to six, the BBC’s Philip Sim reports.

Shona Robison, secretary for social justice, housing and local government; Humza Yousaf, secretary for health and social care, and Shirley-Anne Somerville, secretary for education and skills, taking the stage at the SNP conference in Aberdeen.
Shona Robison, secretary for social justice, housing and local government; Humza Yousaf, secretary for health and social care, and Shirley-Anne Somerville, secretary for education and skills, taking the stage at the SNP conference in Aberdeen. Photograph: Andrew MacColl/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Here is some comment from journalists on the FT scoop about Liz Truss not appointing Antonia Romeo as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury. (See 10.41am.)

From Sky’s Sam Coates

From the Times’ Steven Swinford

From Politico’s Tim Ross

More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day for the fourth time in seven weeks, PA Media reports. PA says:

Some 1,065 people made the journey on Sunday in 25 boats, the Ministry of Defence said. This suggests an average of about 43 people per boat.

The three previous occasions when the daily total recently topped 1,000 were 22 September, when 1,142 people were detected making the journey; 4 September, when 1,160 were recorded; and 22 August, when the figure reached 1,295 – the highest number on a single day since records began in 2018.

The latest crossings take the provisional total for the year so far to 34,694, according to PA Media analysis of government figures. This is compared to 28,526 people who made the crossing in the whole of 2021.

In October to date, 1,693 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

Updated

Ministers hope to ban solar projects from most English farms

Ministers are planning to ban solar farms from most of England’s farmland, my colleague Helena Horton reports.

Truss seeks to implement government reset, with Treasury U-turns, charm offensive, and likely backdown over benefits

As mentioned earlier, the expected climbdown over uprating benefits in line with inflation is just one of several steps being taken by Liz Truss to repair relations with her MPs after the most disastrous first month for any new prime minister in modern times. Here are the other conciliatory measures coming up, or already undertaken. Collectively they amount a proper reset – and a shift towards governing more by consensus, and less by ideological diktat.

  • Truss has appointed Greg Hands, a Rishi Sunak supporter in the Tory leadership contest, to replace Conor Burns as international trade minister. This has been welcomed by Truss’s critics, such as Grant Shapps.

The Shapps tweet is significant because Shapps is the leading example of how Truss’s first reshuffle was all about rewarding loyalty, not talent (one of the many reasons why she has alienated backbenchers). As Sky’s Sam Coates revealed in a Sky News report last month, Truss told Shapps as she formed her first cabinet that he was “one of the most competent secretaries of state in government” and “probably the best communicator in government” - but that she was sacking him anyway because he did not back her in the leadership contest.

  • Truss has reportedly abandoned plans to install her preferred candidate, Antonia Romeo, as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury. (See 10.40am.)

  • The Treasury has confirmed that it is bringing forward the publication of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecast, in a move intended to prevent uncertainty about the credibility of the government’s economic plans extending towards the end of November. (See 10.18am.)

As MPs return to Westminster this week, Truss is planning to hold regular “policy lunches” with groups of no more than 30 Tory MPs, as well as a once-a-month meeting with all Conservative backbenchers in No 10.

Truss is also planning to spend more time in the Commons tea room to listen to concerns, with allies saying “she wants to hear from them and listen to feedback”.

  • Truss is also planning to address the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee this week, Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson reports.

However, all these moves may be too late to repair the damage already done by the mini-budget to Truss’s reputation with voters. As the Politico ‘poll of polls’ tracker shows, when Truss became PM, Labour had an 11-point lead on average. Now it has an average 23-point lead, which is the sort of gap from which recovery for the party left behind becomes extraordinarily difficult.

Poll of polls
Poll of polls Photograph: Politico

Updated

Truss reportedly abandons plan to install unconventional outsider Antonia Romeo as new head of Treasury

The Treasury U-turns seem to be coming thick and fast this morning. According to a report by George Parker in the Financial Times, the government has abandoned plans to appoint Antonia Romeo, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, as the new permanent secretary at the Treasury.

Until the end of last week Romeo had been seen as the clear favourite for the job. She was permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade when Liz Truss was secretary of state there and the pair developed a strong relationship. In part, that may be because Truss identified Romeo as a fellow disrupter, not bound by Whitehall orthodoxy and convention. Romeo worked as a management consultant before joining the civil service, and her extrovert style has not always gone down well with colleagues. As a Times profile put it at the weekend:

Her unapologetically ambitious personal style — even her admirers call her “a massive self-publicist” — often makes it seem as if she has far more in common with ministers than other mandarins. One cabinet minister said Romeo was “so full of energy that at times she seems like a frustrated politician”.

In his FT report, Parker says Truss has decided she cannot risk further upheaval at the Treasury, where officials are still shocked by Kwarteng’s decision to sack Tom Scholar, the permanent secretary, on his first day as chancellor. Unlike all the other candidates shortlisted for the post, Romeo has never worked in the Treasury. Parker says:

[Appointing Romeo as permanent secretary] initially appeared to have the prime minister’s support and was symbolic of her plans to challenge economic “orthodoxy” at the Treasury.

But over the weekend Truss dramatically reversed course, according to senior government figures briefed on the matter, and is now expected to instead appoint someone as the Treasury’s top civil servant with years of experience of working at the finance ministry …

She is now adopting a much more cautious approach as she attempts to persuade Tory colleagues and the markets that she has a grip.

Parker says the new permanent secretary is due to be announced later today. The other candidates interviewed alongside Romeo were: James Bowler, Tamara Finkelstein, Jeremy Pocklington and Peter Schofield.

Updated

Kwarteng says OBR forecast to be published three weeks early, on Monday 31 October, in concession to Tory critics

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, has confirmed he is bringing forward the publication of his medium-term fiscal plan and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s economic forecast.

He had been planning to publish them both on Wednesday 23 November. But many MPs argued that waiting so long would prolong the uncertainty that has contributed to turmoil in the financial markets. In a letter to Mel Stride, the chair of the Commons Treasury committee, Kwarteng said the fiscal plan and the OBR forecast will now be published on Monday 31 October – three weeks from today.

Last week it was widely reported that Kwarteng intended to bring forward this date. But even as the BBC was reporting that he was about to reschedule, Kwarteng was publicly saying 23 November remained the date.

Rescheduling amounts to a U-turn, although this one is less embarrassing than the one announced last Monday, when Kwarteng confirmed he was abandoning plans to cut the 45% top rate of income tax.

Updated

Just Stop Oil protesters block the Mall

Just Stop Oil protesters have blocked off the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace in London, PA Media reports. PA says:

Around 30 activists started sitting on the road at 8.45am wearing orange high-visibility jackets and holding Just Stop Oil banners.

One taxi driver shouted at them: “Fucking load of wankers. Go and get a real fucking job.”

One Scottish man on a bike shouted words of support. He said: “Go on the protesters, you’re doing great work. Stay strong.”

Emma Brown, 31, who lives in Glasgow and is one of the protesters blocking the Mall, said the activists “would walk 500 miles” to “just stop oil”.

Brown said the protesters had come down from Scotland and this was her first demonstration.

She said: “We’ve come down because the government is pressing ahead with over 100 new fossil fuel licences. And that is literally a death sentence for all of us here and for all of you. So we can’t allow this to continue. We have to have a cut-off somewhere. We’ve seen the effects already on our doorstep. We’re seeing the effects all over the globe. And this madness has to stop.”

Campaigners from Just Stop Oil protesting on the Mall this morning.
Campaigners from Just Stop Oil protesting on the Mall this morning. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Updated

Barristers in England and Wales vote to end strike action

Criminal barristers have voted to accept the government’s pay deal on legal aid fees and end their indefinite strike, my colleague Haroon Siddique reports.

Truss must raise benefits in line with inflation, Javid says

As my colleague Peter Walker reports, Sajid Javid, the Conservative former chancellor, today became the latest senior figure in the party to call for benefits to be uprated in line with inflation.

Liz Truss set for benefits climbdown, DWP minister hints

Good morning. As my colleagues Aubrey Allegretti and Patrick Butler report in their overnight story, Liz Truss is on the brink of performing what would amount to a U-turn over uprating benefits for next year in line with inflation.

While this might not count as a technical U-turn, because Truss never explicitly said that benefits would not be uprated in line with inflation (the usual practice, and also what Boris Johnson’s government promised), she made it clear that she was seriously considering uprating in line with earnings instead, which could save the Treasury roughly £5bn.

Victoria Prentis, a Department for Work and Pensions minister, was giving interviews this morning and she hinted strongly that Truss is backing down and giving into the demands of Tories from all wings of the party who want benefits to be uprated in line with inflation.

Prentis said her boss, Chloe Smith, the work and pensions secretary, had to wait for earnings figures, out tomorrow, and inflation figures for September, out on 19 October, until she could make the decision about uprating benefits for 2023-24. Prentis said the decision would probably be announced before the end of November.

But, in an interview with Sky News, Prentis went on:

It’s really important that we make sure that we target the government resources at the most vulnerable.

This sounded like a clue as to the direction in which the debate in government is going. In the short time it has been in office, the Truss administration has not generally prioritised targeting government resources at the most vulnerable. Half of the tax cuts in the original mini-budget would have benefited the richest 5%.

A climbdown over benefits would be just one of several concessions to her critics coming from Truss. She has appointed a prominent Rishi Sunak supporter, Greg Hands, to a vacant ministerial post; she is planning extensive meetings with backbenchers; and she is scheduled to address the 1922 Committee this week. I will post more on these moves shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day. The Commons is still in recess, with MPs returning tomorrow.

10am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies holds a briefing on its green budget – its proposals for what should be in the next budget.

10.30am: Shona Robison, the Scottish government’s social justice secretary, Mairi Gougeon, the rural affairs secretary, and Humza Yousaf, the health secretary, take part in a panel discussion at the opening of proceedings on the final day of the Scottish National party conference in Aberdeen.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

3.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gives her speech at the close of the SNP conference.

And Keir Starmer is on a visit today in the East Midlands, where he will be giving interviews.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

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