Liz Truss today LIVE: Jeremy Hunt named Chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng sacking

Ahead “Liz Truss today LIVE: Jeremy Hunt named Chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng sacking” Liz Truss press conference LIVE: Prime Minister appoints Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor after SACKING Kwasi Kwarteng

Liz Truss today LIVE: Jeremy Hunt named Chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng sacking

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor – just 38 days after being appointed.

Mr Kwarteng flew back to London from the United States this morning for crisis talks with the PM following days of market turmoil. It has been reported that No 10 and the Treasury plan on abandoning elements of the £43 billion tax-cutting plan – including a key pledge made in September’s mini-budget, to scrap a planned increase in corporation tax.

But the Chancellor was instead sacked, posting a resignation letter on his Twitter. He said he has accepted Prime Minister Liz Truss’ request he “stand aside” as Chancellor.

On Thursday, Downing Street refused to deny that the potential exists for a reversal on the corporation tax policy. Ms Truss will hold a press conference by herself later today, it is understood.

Before he left the US, Mr Kwarteng answered “absolutely 100%” when asked if he will be in office in a month, adding: “I’m not going anywhere.”

The Prime Minister is expected to hold a press conference confirming her decision this afternoon.

PM confirms u-turn on corporation tax

“I have decided to keep the increase in corporation tax that was planned by the previous government,” Ms Truss says.

She says the u-turn will raise £18 billion a year. “It will act as a down payment on our full medium-term fiscal plan which will be accompanied by a forecast from the OBR.”

We will do whatever necessary to ensure debt is falling and we will control the size of the state, she adds.

Parts of mini-budget ‘went further and faster’ than markets expected – Truss

Ms Truss says he wants to deliver a low tax high wage high growth economy, “That mission remains”.

She says people across the UK want stability and that is why we acted to support businesses and households with energy costs this winter.

She says parts of the mini-budget “went further and faster than markets were expecting so the way we are delivering our mission right now has to change.” She says the government has to act now to reassure markets.

Press conference now underway

The press conference with Liz Truss has now started.

The prime minister says she is not prepared to accept poor growth for our country. “I want a country where people can get good jobs, new businesses can set up and people can afford a better life.” She that why “I’m ambitious for growth”.

She says this country has been held back by persistent weak growth.

Greater Manchester MPs react to new chancellor

Greater Manchester MPs have reacted to the news that Jeremy Hunt will replace Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor following weeks of market turmoil since September’s mini-budget.

Bolton MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “Kwarteng, Hunt, Truss, it doesn’t matter. The entire Government and Cabinet is falling to pieces and it is British people who are paying the price.”

Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds placed the blame on the PM, he said: “One thing Kwasi has certainly got right – this crisis was made in Downing St and Liz Truss is responsible for every bit of it.”

New chancellor could represent major shift in policy

A switch from Kwasi Kwarteng to Jeremy Hunt as chancellor is likely to signal a major shift in policy direction. Mr Hunt, a more centrist figure, is unlikely to share Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss’s ideological free market commitment to tax cuts.

The MP, who backed Rishi Sunak in the latest leadership bid after his own campaign failed to get past the first vote, has previously held the positions of culture secretary, health secretary between 2012 and 2018, and more recently, foreign secretary in Theresa May’s Cabinet.

Following the previous chancellor’s mini-budget, Mr Hunt said that Ms Truss should be given a fair chance for her plan to work. “It obviously was a very wobbly week. But we have to let things settle down. And that I think will be the time to make judgments,” he told GB News at the start of this month.

Downing Street confirms Jeremy Hunt will be the next chancellor

Downing Street has confirmed that Jeremy Hunt will be the next chancellor. It has also appointed Edward Argar as chief secretary to the Treasury and Chris Philp as Paymaster General.

Downing Street said:

The King has been pleased to approve the following appointments:

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP as Chancellor of the Exchequer;

Rt Hon Edward Argar MP as Chief Secretary to the Treasury;

Rt Hon Chris Philp MP as Paymaster General, and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Liz Truss says she is ‘deeply sorry to lose’ Kwasi Kwarteng from government

Liz Truss has written a letter to Kwasi Kwarteng after he agreed to stand down as chancellor. The PM told the former chancellor that she is “sorry” to lose him, adding that: “You have put the national interest first.”

She wrote:

“Thank you for your letter. As a long-standing friend and colleague, I am deeply sorry to lose you from the Government.

“We share the same vision for our country and the same firm conviction to go for growth. You have been Chancellor in extraordinarily challenging times in the face of severe global headwinds.

“The Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief scheme, which made up the largest part of the mini budget, will stand as one of the most significant fiscal interventions in modern times. Thanks to your intervention, families will be able to heat their homes this winter and thousands of jobs and livelihoods will be saved.”

Reports emerging that Jeremy Hunt is set to take chancellor job

Reports are emerging that Jeremy Hunt will become the next chancellor. According to The Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar, a No 10 source has said that the former health secretary will take over from Kwasi Kwarteng.

🚨 No 10 source confirms speculation that Jeremy Hunt will take over as chancellor.

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 14, 2022

Opinion polls put Labour 31 points ahead of the Conservatives

Kwasi Kwarteng pictured smiling as he leaves Downing Street

Kwasi Kwarteng left Downing Street after accepting the PM’s request to stand down. He smiled and waved to reporters as he left via the front entrance of Number 11 before getting in a car.

Kwasi Kwarteng says Liz Truss’ vision ‘is the right one’

Mr Kwarteng said he believes Liz Truss’ vision ‘is the right one’.

In his letter to the PM, he said he accepted the job of chancellor “in full knowledge that the situation we faced was incredibly difficult”, adding that the PM’s “vision of optimism, growth and change was right”.

“Following the status quo was not an option,” he said. “For too long this country has been dogged by low growth rates and high taxation – that must change if this country is to succeed.

“The economic environment has changed rapidly since we set out the Growth Plan on 23 September. In response, together with the Bank of England and excellent officials at the Treasury, we have responded to those events and I commend my officials for their dedication.”

He said he “looks forward” to supporting the PM and his successor from the backbenches.

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The chancellors with the shortest time in office

If Mr Kwarteng loses his job as chancellor today it would make him the second shortest-serving chancellor of the last century.