Liz Truss is reportedly set to hold an emergency meeting with financial forecasters after failing to calm chaos in the markets.
The Prime Minister will meet with the head of the Office of Budget Responsibility today (Friday) after calls for her to 'come out of hiding'. She will join Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in a meeting with Richard Hughes, the head of the independent spending watchdog.
Treasury and Downing Street sources hit back at suggestions that the meeting is an 'emergency', but it comes after days of chaos in the financial markets and fears of rocketing mortgage bills sparked by the Chancellor’s mini-budget last week. News of the meeting was welcomed by Tory MPs, who expressed hope that it could mark the start of process to win back the confidence of the financial markets.
Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Mel Stride, one of the growing caucus of Conservatives with concerns about the government’s plans, urged the meeting to be a 'reset moment', echoing earlier calls from fellow Tory MPs for a 'plan B' from the government.
Mr Stride was also among those calling on Mr Kwarteng to bring forward his planned statement setting out how he intends to get the public finances back on track after the OBR said it could produce a preliminary set of forecasts by October 7. The Chancellor is currently scheduled to deliver his medium-term fiscal plan explaining how he would get debt falling as a percentage of GDP, alongside the updated OBR forecasts, on November 23.
The meeting today comes after Mrs Truss broke her silence yesterday over the mini-budget. She rejected calls for a U-turn in a series of brutal BBC local radio interviews.
Mrs Truss was asked 'where have you been?' after days of remaining silent amid turmoil in the financial markets. As each presenter rushed through just a few minutes’ of precious time, she was also asked whether she was 'ashamed of what you've done' and 'what on earth were you thinking'.
One presenter asked: "Have you taken the keys to the country and crashed the economy?". Another said: "It's hard to know what is falling more since you entered Downing Street, the value of the pound or the Tory poll rating".
Ms Truss said that her administration had to take 'urgent action' to kick-start the economy and protect consumers from rising energy costs. She insisted that she had the 'right plan' but admitted that the government's decisions have been 'controversial'.
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