Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.
These really are strange and uncertain times, aren’t they? Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently found a new appreciation for the collective yesterday as he set out his energy help for businesses. The frantic resumption of politics continues today as Liz Truss returns from New York, with her health secretary set to make an announcement on the NHS while the Bank of England readies to raise interest rate.
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Inside the bubble
Commons action gets underway at 9.30am with any urgent questions or statement – including the health secretary’s NHS announcement. This is followed by Commons leader Penny Mordaunt’s weekly business statement. After that the PM will then lead a general debate on Ukraine, before MPs will approve motions for new sanctions against Russia.
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No rest for the wicked
After a 10-day hiatus due to the Queen’s death, politics is well and truly back – and at a frenetic pace for new prime minister Liz Truss, who arrives back in the UK this morning following her first international outing at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. As Truss touches down, her health secretary will be putting the final touches to a major announcement on the NHS while the Bank of England prepares to further hike interest rates.
In an address to the UN last night, Truss condemned Vladimir Putin’s “catastrophic” failure in Ukraine as she accused the Russian president of “sabre rattling” over his nuclear threats to the West. She also met with US president Joe Biden at the meeting of world leaders, with both reaffirming their support for Kyiv, opposition to authoritarian states, as well as committing to ending their reliance on them for energy. The two leaders also reiterated their commitment to net zero climate goals and agreed that protecting the Good Friday Agreement was a priority when discussing Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol, according to a Downing Street read out of the conversation.
Putin’s part mobilisation and his threats to use “all means” at his disposal to protect Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine dominated discussions at the UN and splash most of this morning’s newspapers and websites, although Truss managed to find space in her speech to talk about her domestic vision, vowing to “lead a new Britain for a new era.” “Firstly, this begins with growth and building a British economy that rewards enterprise and attracts investment,” she added. “Our long-term aim is to get our economy growing at an average of 2.5 per cent”. The comments – and all the noises coming from Downing Street since normal service resumed on Tuesday – provide further evidence that the new administration is going hell for leather to achieve economic growth. Truss appears to be willing to live and die by that 2.5 per cent figure, the route to which we will find out more about in the mini-budget (more on that in tomorrow’s e-mail).
But here is more bad news on the economic front – particularly for mortgage holders – on the way later, with the BoE expected to raise interests rates by at least 0.5 per cent (possibly 0.75 per cent) to curb soaring inflation. It would be the biggest rate jump in some 30 years and cost millions of households billions in extra payments on their mortgages during the cost of living crisis.
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Waiting lists
Making her first speech as PM outside No 10 a few weeks ago, Truss made clear that her number one priority in government would be growing the economy.
But she also pledged to tackle NHS waiting lists and shortly we will get more detail on how the government plans to do this when Theresa Coffey, the health secretary and deputy PM, makes a statement to MPs in the Commons.
We previously reported that Coffey is considering abolishing four-hour A&E waiting time targets as part of her “emergency plan”.
And there are reports this morning that she will promise people are seen within two weeks and set up a new cloud-based phone system to reduce the need for the “8 am scramble,” according to The Times.
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On the record
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the business secretary, says public must share cost of energy crisis handouts.
“This is a burden that would fall on the economy one way or the other. And the question is, should it fall on individuals and businesses who simply cannot afford it, or is it something that has to be borne collectively, on a balance sheet that can bear it? And it seems to me it’s obvious that it has to fall on the balance sheet that can bear it.”
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From the Twitterati
Adam Lent, CEO of the New Local think tank, questions Conservative austerity.
“How to express the fury this will cause in councils? They endured 30%+ budget cuts supposedly to keep the public finances healthy. Suddenly it turns out that doesn’t matter anymore. What were all the redundancies, service cuts, closures for exactly?!”
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