Pressure mounts on Liz Truss ahead of Jeremy Hunt statementon October 17, 2022 at 8:17 am

Pressure is mounting on the prime minister ahead of an emergency statement by her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt to reassure financial markets over the government’s economic plans.

Mr Hunt is expected to U-turn on more of the government’s tax-cutting plans.

He is also expected provide more clarity on public sector spending – two weeks earlier than planned.

It comes after more Conservative MPs have been questioning how long Liz Truss can remain in Downing Street.

Mr Hunt is set to make an announcement on the government’s plans by lunchtime, followed by a statement in the House of Commons in the afternoon.

The cut to National Insurance is expected to survive as it is already close to passing through Parliament.

However, there could be changes to plans to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p.

Financial markets appeared to welcome the prospect of more changes to the government’s economic plans.

The pound rose against the dollar earlier and the cost of government borrowing also fell following the news of Mr Hunt’s statement.

On Friday, Ms Truss sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and abandoned one of her flagship tax policies to freeze corporation tax, in response to market turmoil and opposition for her own MPs.

Three Tory MPs – Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis – have since gone public calling for the prime minister to go.

Many others are expressing concerns privately.

“It’s done… we can’t win,” one minister, a Truss supporter, told the BBC, who was accepting they will lose their seat whenever a general election comes.

In conversations over the weekend, many other Conservatives argued Ms Truss would have to leave office before the next election.

Some believed she could hang on for a few months but an increasing number argue she has weeks or even days left.

Under current Conservative Party rules, Ms Truss is safe from a no confidence vote by Tory MPs to oust her for a year. The rules could be changed, however sources suggested to the BBC that the 1922 committee of backbench MPs who set the rules would prefer the prime minister to jump before she is pushed.

Some Tory MPs who want Ms Truss to go have suggested putting forward just one candidate to replace her, with MPs choosing their next leader in a couple of days without consulting members, as would normally happen.

The three names being widely discussed are Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was Ms Truss’s main rival in the last leadership election.

However, there is little agreement over who should take over from Ms Truss if she is removed.

In an attempt to win over her critics, Ms Truss will address the 100-strong One Nation group of centrist Tory MPs, as well as hold talks with cabinet ministers.

Other backbench MPs will also be invited to speak with the prime minister and new chancellor.

Former minister Victoria Atkins, who is a member of the One Nation group, said bringing in Mr Hunt as chancellor was a “very good step”.

But asked if Ms Truss could lead her party into the next election, currently set for two years time, she did not give a ringing endorsement.

“She is the prime minister at the moment, we will not have an election for the next couple of years. I want her to get us back onto the right track, I want her to reiterate our concerns for our constituents and for compassionate One Nation values,” Ms Atkins told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If she’s able to bring those values to the fore then I’m very happy for her to do that.”

However, former deputy prime minister Damian Green, chairman of the One Nation group, said he did want Ms Truss to lead the party into the next election.

“The prime minister has been elected. It would be best for the party… if we don’t have another leadership campaign,” he told Today.

“And so the ideal outcome for the country most importantly, but also as it happens for the Conservative Party, is for the government to succeed.”

The chancellor will still give a statement on 31 October, alongside an independent assessment of the prospects for the economy from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The so-called Medium-Term Fiscal Plan had already been brought forward by several weeks but now Mr Hunt will set out further measures earlier than planned.

Labour said the chancellor’s emergency statement was evidence of government “panic” and the “damage that’s been caused over the past few weeks”.

“The people who did this damage are not the people who can undo it,” he told Today.