Kwasi Kwarteng defends sudden U-turn on scrapping 45p rate tax
Police have put the Tory conference in “lockdown” over an “unknown security incident” minutes before chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was expected to make a speech.
Birmingham Police tweeted that they have “temporarily restricted access to and from the ICC” venue where the conference is being held.
Mr Kwarteng – the first minister scheduled to make a speech on the annual event’s second day – earlier announced a U-turn on his own controversial proposal to scrap the top rate of tax.
He said plans to abolish the 45p tax band had “become a distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing our country” as he rowed back on the policy this morning.
Mr Kwarteng was set to outline his vision for the financial future of both the Conservative Party and the whole country.
After his speech, Mr Kwarteng was then expected to hand the stage to several other Cabinet ministers, including trade secretary Kemi Badenoch and business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.
‘Unknown security threat’ throws Tory party conference ‘under lockdown’
The Conservative Party conference in Birmingham has been placed under a lockdown due to an “unknown security incident”, according to attendees.
Reports suggest that nobody is being allowed to enter or leave “until further notice”.
Younger voters will never back ‘anti-EU and populist’ Tories, ex-cabinet ministers warn
The Tories will never win back younger voters as an anti-Europe and populist party, former cabinet ministers have warned – as they called for trade links with EU to be rebuilt.
Michael Heseltine said the mistakes from Brexit will be “high on the agenda” if Liz Truss loses the next general election, predicting “a new agenda to appeal to a younger generation”,
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:
Michael Heseltine says Brexit will be ’high on the agenda’ if Liz Truss loses general election
Tory election prospects ‘pretty bleak’, says Lord Heseltine
“Things are looking pretty bleak” for Tory hopes of winning the next election, former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has said.
He told a conference fringe event: “It will require a very impressive feat of political leadership and it needs to start today. Like this afternoon.”
Lord Heseltine warned Liz Truss that she needed to bring in MPs from across the party, rather than just her supporters.
He urged her to take the “talent off the back benches, not the cronies off the back benches”.
He said there was “appalling” short-termism in politics and leaders had to tackle that by appointing “ministers who know what the heck they are doing”.
Watch: Liz Truss asked if she 'enjoys chaos' during frosty interview
Liz Truss asked if she 'enjoys chaos' during frosty interview
Education system favours degrees in ‘Harry Potter studies’ over construction apprenticeships, says Tory minister
The current system would rather young people get a degree in “Harry Potter studies” than apprentices in construction, an education minister has said.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Andrea Jenkyns said: “A skilled modern economy competing on the global stage requires technical skills just as much as it needs graduates.
“Yet the current system would rather our young people get a degree in Harry Potter studies, than the apprentices shaping construction.
“It doesn’t take magic powers to work out that this is wrong, which is why the Government is committed to putting the broomstick to good use and carrying out a spring clean of low quality courses.”
Ms Jenkyns insisted “if a course isn’t providing someone with a positive outcome”, it makes “no sense” the Government “should be funding it”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘delighted’ to have fracking in his own back garden
The business secretary suggested that he would welcome drilling on his Sommerset land because of the “cash” royalties he would expect fossil fuel companies to offer.
Asked if would allow fracking in his back garden, he said: “Yes, of course I would. I would be delighted – particularly if I get these royalties.”
Business secretary says he would welcome cash royalties for allowing drilling on his land
Top Tory MPs suggest Budget rebellion not over
Senior Tory MP Mel Stride has welcomed the 45p rate U-turn but said may be “further requirements to unwind” on the government plans on tax cuts.
The Treasury select committee chair said there were still “a number of unfunded tax cuts, that’s going to be deeply problematic … it may be that there will be even yet further requirements to unwind some of those positions”.
Hinting at further rebellion over public spending and benefits cuts ahead, Stride told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “The main economic issues here haven’t gone away even if the political ones have been made easier.”
Tory MP Esther McVey, former work and pensions secretary, told a conference fringe event that it would be a “huge mistake” not to uprate benefits in line with inflation.
“It would be a huge mistake not to give a cost of living increase in benefits. What we have to do is bring people back to work and that will not be done by slashing the benefits budget,” she said.
“We have got to be an enabler.”
Tory peer urges Liz Truss to step down as leader to allow Boris Johnson to become PM again
A Tory peer has suggested that for the Conservative party to maintain its grip on power Boris Johnson should be reinstated as party leader.
In a long thread posted to Twitter, Lord Cruddas suggested that prime minsiter Liz Truss step aside to “allow” Mr Johnson to “return as the leader”.
Ms Truss, he suggested, should then be given “a key job in the new Cabinet.”
Lord Cruddas touted his plans in a bid to ward off what he called a 1922 committee “conspiracy” to “bring down Truss” and ensure Rishi Sunak, who lost to Truss in the race for No 10, was made prime minister.
He continued: “The big problem is that Rishi is not popular with the members who have already rejected him as their leader. So 1922 will have to elect Rishi by blocking member’s votes and eliminating them from the leadership campaign.”
To do so, Lord Cruddas claimed that the 1922 committee would “change the rules or manipulate the process to circumvent the members from electing the new leader” – which he went on to call an “anti-democratic and a blatant disregard for the member’s rights!”
“They will stop at nothing until their man is the leader,” he said of MPs loyal to the former chancellor.
He posed that by reinstalling Mr Johnson in Downing Street, there could be a “run-off between Rishi and Boris for the members to decide.
“There would only be one winner #boris,” he said.
Rees-Mogg calls Gove ‘Tory Peter Mandelson’
Jacob Rees-Mogg said “political reality” meant Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were forced to change course on the 45p rate – but he dismisses the fuss over the U-turn “sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
He said the criticism became “absurd distraction” – telling a Tory conference fringe event that some policies “do not get public consent and you cannot follow through on them.”
He also called Michael Gove – who rebelled on the issue – the “Tory Peter Mandelson”.
Gove, asked about the comment while speaking in a tent next door, said it was “one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me in politics”.
Gove says now is ‘not time’ for a general election
Former Cabinet minister Michael Gove said that “now is not the time” for a general election.
Responding to Nadine Dorries’ call for Liz Truss to seek a new mandate from the country if she wanted to shift course dramatically from the previous government, the former education secretary told a fringe meeting at the Conservative conference that the new PM was “entitled” to amend policies.
“To take a cooking analogy, while the aroma of the broth is the same and the basic ingredients are retained, you might add a little bit of paprika here or a little less garlic there,” said Mr Gove.
“That is what a new prime minister is entitled to do and should do.
“I’m sure it will be the case that Liz will be carrying forward lots of good work that Nadine did at DCMS.”