Labour: No 10"s refusal of emergency budget shows Tories have "lost control" of economy Labour has criticised No 10’s decision to ignore calls for a recall of parliament and an emergency budget. In response to the Downing Street lobby briefing (see 12.37pm), Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, issued a a statement saying that the Conservative party had “lost control” of the economy. She said: People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders. An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same. Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more secure economy that Britain needs. It is also interesting to see Reeves describe both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak as continuity candidates. “Time for a change” is often the most compelling message available in a political campaign, and so it is easy to see why Labour wants to brand them both as continuity figures. But it does not square with conventional assessments of the Tory leadership contests. Truss is a continuity candidate in the sense that she is a Boris Johnson loyalist who shares his scepticism about fiscal orthodoxy and his faith in Brexit boosterism. But as PM she would implement unfunded tax cuts on a scale way beyond anything Johnson was able to get past the Treasury. And Sunak is a continuity candidate in terms of economic policy (which is not surprising, because he was largely in charge of Johnson’s economic policy until a few weeks ago). But temperamentally he is very different, he appeals to a different type of voter and a Sunak administration would feel more like a conventional Conservative one. In a good Sunday Times column yesterday, Robert Colvile argued that a Truss win would mark the victory of Johnsonism over Cameronism. Afternoon summary Boris Johnson has ruled out new cost of living measures until a new prime minister is in place, with No 10 saying the worst financial pressure on families will not hit until later in the year. No 10 stuck to the line that it would not be appropriate for him to pre-empt a decision that should be taken by his successor despite Labour (see 1.48pm), the former prime minister Gordon Brown (see 11.11am), Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon (see 4pm) and the CBI (see 5.03pm) all calling for an urgent intervention from him now. Rishi Sunak has launched a fresh attack on his Conservative leadership rival Liz Truss’s plan for tax cuts in an emergency budget, describing it as a “big bung” for large businesses and the better-off which would do little to help those most in need over the winter. Doubts have been cast on claims by Boris Johnson that it will be possible to go ahead with plans to axe 91,000 civil servants “without harming” frontline services. Boris Johnson is under pressure to intervene on the cost of living crisis. He is refusing to do so - but he has posted a message on Twitter thanking everyone who made the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham a success. I have updated the post at 4.23pm to explain that, although Laura Farris says she has stood down from the privileges committee, technically she remains a member until the Commons passes a motion to replace her with someone else. CBI chief says Johnson should meet with Truss and Sunak to agree measures to deal with rising energy bills Tony Danker, head of the CBI, has joined Gordon Brown (see 11.11am) and Nicola Strugeon (see 4pm) in calling on Boris Johnson to take emergency action to address the cost of living crisis. In a statement Danker says Johnson should convene a meeting with his two potential successors, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, to agree a joint response to the announcement due later this month on the next rise in the energy price cap. The CBI says: The PM must bring together both leadership candidates in the next two weeks to agree a way forward to support people and businesses with energy bills once the Ofgem price cap is announced on 26 August. This will allow the current prime minister to issue reassurances on 26th that people will be significantly supported – not waiting until 5 September or later. Given that Truss and Sunak are at loggerheads over how to respond to the cost of living crisis (see 8.56am), this proposal may be even less likely to be taken up than Brown’s call for a recall of parliament, or Strugeon’s proposal for a meeting of the UK heads of government council. The UK has been given an extra month to respond to infringement proceedings issued by the EU over the alleged “breach of international law” over the failure to implement the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. While Northern Ireland and Brexit has played little part in the Conservative party leadership election, the progress of the law suit is a sharp reminder that Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss’s threat to tear up the protocol risks a further deterioration in the already poor relations with Brussels. The UK is currently facing seven infringement proceedings over the protocol. The EU sent its legal opinion and two letters of formal notice on 15 June with a two-month deadline for a response. After a request by the UK for more time, the deadline has been extended to 15 September, an EU official has confirmed. The Conservative MP Laura Farris says she has stepped down from the privileges committee, which is carrying out the inquiry into whether Boris Johnson lied to MPs about Partygate. Farris and all other Conservative and opposition members of the committee have been singled out in reports, in the Mail on Sunday yesterday and in the Daily Mail today, implying they were biased against Johnson. As the government party, the Tories have a majority on the committee and, if Farris has left, they will nominate an MP to replace her. But the committee’s website still lists her as a member. UPDATE: According to a parliamentary official, until an MP has been formally discharged from a committee (normally by a Commmons vote replacing them with someone else), they remain technically a member of the committee, and named as such on its website. Farris will not be able to properly leave until after the summer recess, when MPs can vote to replace her. Sturgeon says Johnson should call emergency UK heads of government meeting this week to plan for cost of living crisis Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has released the text of an open letter to Boris Johnson asking him to convene an emergency meeting with the leaders of the devolved governments to discuss the cost of living crisis. She says it should happen “as soon as possible this week” to agree “urgent steps to help those in most need now, and also formulate a plan of action for the autumn and winter ahead”. Explaining why she thinks action is needed now, she says: While we will continue to take all actions available to us within devolved responsibilities and budgets – the Scottish government is investing almost £3bn this year in a range of measures which will help address the cost of living pressures – it is a statement of fact that many of the levers which would make the biggest difference lie with the UK government. It is also the case that only the UK government can access and make available resources on the scale required. Therefore, actions by devolved governments alone – though important – will not be enough to meet the unprecedented challenges we face. Action is needed now to address significant gaps in help for households, in particular those on low incomes, who are increasingly vulnerable to the impact of rising household costs. However, it is also vital, given further increases to energy bills due to be announced later this month, that a substantial plan be developed now to avert and mitigate what will otherwise be a crisis of unprecedented proportions – a crisis in which many people will be unable to feed themselves and their families or heat their homes. Sturgeon says the meeting should take the form of a heads of government council. This new body, set up under reforms announced in January, was due to meet for the first time in September. She also implies that the proposals to address the cost of living crisis from Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two Tories left in the contest to succeed Johnson, are “irresponsible”. She says: While few will escape some impact of the cost of living crisis, these impacts are not being experienced evenly. That is why the focus must be on providing targeted support to those most adversely impacted, rather than an irresponsible reduction in broad-based taxes which will benefit the relatively better off over those most in need. It is also vital that any tax cuts introduced by the UK government do not result in tighter controls on spending which will impact on delivery of public services already under immense pressure. Sturgeon is referring to Truss’s plan to reverse the national insurance increase, and Sunak’s plan for a temporary cut in VAT on domestic fuel bills. Earlier today, No 10 said Johnson would not be announcing emergency cost of living measures because it was for his successor to take major spending decisions of this kind. (See 12.37pm.) More than 13,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since Priti Patel announced her plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, PA Media reports. PA says: According to the Ministry of Defence, 176 people made the crossing on five small boats on Sunday, bringing the total to 13,016 since 14 April. It brings the total number of people who have crossed the Channel so far this year to 18,284. Photographs taken on Monday morning showed another group of migrants, clad in life jackets and face masks, being brought into Dover by Border Force officials. Analysis by the PA news agency of the MoD’s provisional figures shows 1,885 people have been brought to the UK so far in August. That is more than half of the 3,053 people rescued in August 2021. In April Patel, the home secretary, hailed the Rwanda deal as a “world-class” plan that provided a “blueprint” for other countries to follow. The week in which the deal was announced proved the busiest of the year for migrant crossings, when 2,076 made the journey across the Channel. In May Boris Johnson set out plans to cut the size of the civil service by around a fifth, with the loss of around 90,000 jobs. At the time he claimed that this could be achieved without frontline services being harmed. According to a report by Peter Foster and George Parker in the Financial Times, a government review has now concluded that cuts on this scale would be impossible without frontline services being affected. They say: One Whitehall insider who has worked on the plans to cut 91,000 civil servants said that it had become clear that Johnson had made his announcement – which was greeted with enthusiasm on the rightwing of the Conservative party – without fully thinking through the implications. “You can only deliver 91,000 cuts by actual cuts to major frontline services,” added the insider. “There’s no way you can get to that number through efficiency savings or reductions in HQ staff.” One government insider said the proposals to axe 91,000 civil servants would involve “serious cuts” to staff at HM Revenue and Customs, Border Force and prisons. “And you couldn’t protect jobs outside London,” added the insider. Although estimates were not finalised, another Whitehall insider said a figure of £2bn had been discussed as a working assumption on the cost of compulsory redundancy payments. It is not just the Labour party complaining about Tory inaction on the economy. (See 1.48pm.) In his column in the Sun today, Trevor Kavanagh, who was for years political editor at the paper and who is definitely no socialist, attacks the governing party in terms that would probably be deemed too alarmist and extreme for a Labour party press release. This is how his article starts. While the Stupid Party is busy rearranging the deckchairs, SS Great Britain is steaming headlong towards the biggest crash since the Great Depression of 1929. This is not just a cost-of-living crisis. It is a national economic emergency. We are on the brink of a full-blown calamity of wartime proportions, with soaring bankruptcies and unemployment, poverty and homelessness. Belt-tightening won’t cut it. This country cannot wait four more weeks for the Tories to decide who might lead us through it. Without what Churchill called “Action This Day”, millions of hardworking families – including Sun readers – face hunger and destitution for the first time in living memory. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary and arch Boris Johnson loyalist, has been the most vocal of the Tories calling for the privileges committee inquiry into claims that Johnson lied to MPs about Partygate to be halted. She posted this earlier today. Gavin Barwell, the Tory peer and chief of staff to Theresa May when May was prime minister, says that if Dorries feels this way, she should have voted against the Commons motion ordering the committee to hold the inquiry in the first place (which she didn’t). Arguably the context has changed since the Commons vote in April, because Boris Johnson has now agreed to resign as PM. But Johnson still intends to remain an MP (and reportedly hopes he may one day be able to return to No 10), the charge that he committed a contempt of parliament by misleading MPs remains unresolved, and Johnson has failed to give a full and coherent account of why he told MPs that no parties were taking place in Downing Street when some of his most senior advisers were organising and attending those very events. Labour: No 10"s refusal of emergency budget shows Tories have "lost control" of economy Labour has criticised No 10’s decision to ignore calls for a recall of parliament and an emergency budget. In response to the Downing Street lobby briefing (see 12.37pm), Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, issued a a statement saying that the Conservative party had “lost control” of the economy. She said: People are worried sick about how they’ll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders. An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action – but instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same. Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labour government can tackle this crisis and deliver the stronger, more secure economy that Britain needs. It is also interesting to see Reeves describe both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak as continuity candidates. “Time for a change” is often the most compelling message available in a political campaign, and so it is easy to see why Labour wants to brand them both as continuity figures. But it does not square with conventional assessments of the Tory leadership contests. Truss is a continuity candidate in the sense that she is a Boris Johnson loyalist who shares his scepticism about fiscal orthodoxy and his faith in Brexit boosterism. But as PM she would implement unfunded tax cuts on a scale way beyond anything Johnson was able to get past the Treasury. And Sunak is a continuity candidate in terms of economic policy (which is not surprising, because he was largely in charge of Johnson’s economic policy until a few weeks ago). But temperamentally he is very different, he appeals to a different type of voter and a Sunak administration would feel more like a conventional Conservative one. In a good Sunday Times column yesterday, Robert Colvile argued that a Truss win would mark the victory of Johnsonism over Cameronism.