Kwarteng "to bring forward planned 23 November fiscal statement" In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation. It will now take place later this month, rather than 23 November, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability. A summary of today"s developments Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, said the government has abandoned the plan in the mini-budget to abolish the 45% top rate of income tax. He claimed the proposal has become a “distraction from our overriding mission to tackle the challenges facing our country”. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, says the U-turn has come too late, because the mini-budget is already leading to higher mortgages for families. In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation. It will now take place later this month, rather than November 23, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability. Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced the UK’s first prototype nuclear fusion power station will be built in Nottinghamshire by 2040. The government “will be replacing GDPR (general data protection regulation) with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system,” culture secretary Michelle Donelan announced. Jacob Rees-Mogg has declared “if people want to call me Tory scum, I don’t mind”. He told the Tory conference: I wanted to thank you for giving me almost a warmer welcome as I got outside the hall. “But I think that’s rather marvelous, I happen to think that having a democracy where you can actually walk through the streets and people can exercise their right to peaceful protest shows the strength of our society. “And if people really want to call me Tory scum, I don’t mind.” The Conservative party conference centre was locked down for about an hour and a half due to a security scare. Police locked all entrances and exits at about 3.30pm with ministers among those forced to wait outside. The lockdown caused widespread disruption to events inside and outside the conference venue, which is being held at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre. The type of the security scare is unknown. Liz Truss packed her cabinet with “cronies off the backbenches” rather than competent ministers with a range of views, and appeared to have no coherent plan behind her mini-budget, Michael Heseltine said. Schools minister Jonathan Gullis has told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference he is hoping that legislation to lift the current ban on new grammar schools in England will be brought forward before the next election. Gullis, a former teacher who has campaigned to scrap the ban and allow more grammar schools in England, told an Education Policy Institute event there was no date set and he didn’t know if it would be in this parliamentary session. Downing Street said Liz Truss still has confidence in the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. At the lobby briefing in London, asked if Truss has confidence in her chancellor, the prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters: “Yes.” Senior Conservative officials have accused West Midlands police of failing to do enough to keep protesters away from delegates at the party conference, a leaked letter reveals. The disclosure comes just hours after the police were forced to lock down the conference in central Birmingham for several hours after a security scare. Police say they have been shortchanged by over £500,000 on the costs of keeping the conference in Birmingham secure. Jake Berry, the Conservative party chair, and Darren Mott, party chief executive, sent a letter on Sunday evening to the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands raising “serious concerns” over security around the conference. Kwarteng "to bring forward planned 23 November fiscal statement" In another reversal, the Guardian understands Kwasi Kwarteng will speed up plans for a new fiscal statement, expected to be focussed on spending and deregulation. It will now take place later this month, rather than 23 November, accompanied by new forecasts from the Office of Budget Responsibility, in another move designed to restore market stability. A Conservative Treasury minister and one of Liz Truss’s major campaign donors said they would like to abolish inheritance tax, as they urged her to continue with her “politically brave” agenda for wealth creation. Andrew Griffith, a City minister under Kwasi Kwarteng, said tax was not his policy area but inheritance tax would be his top choice for a tax to abolish. Michael Spencer, a Tory peer and City financier who gave £25,0000 to Truss’s leadership campaign, also backed abolishing inheritance tax, saying it was causing wealthy people to move abroad as non-doms, and scrapping tax on share trading. Here is a montage of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s comments before the income tax U-turn. Kemi Badenoch urged her colleagues to have dissent “in a grown-up fashion”, instead of rushing to the first TV studio when they have an issue with government policy. The International trade secretary took part in a question and answer session with GB News’ Liam Halligan on the main stage of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, where she spoke about the recent blue-on-blue attacks. Asked how the party can communicate effectively the growth plan to the country, Ms Badenoch spoke about the need for “unity” and to “get behind the Prime Minister”. She said that if people have problems with government policy, there is a way of communicating dissent that does not involve “rushing to the first TV studio to let everybody know how angry you are”. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng decried the “hullabaloo” about his mini-budget as he noted the “market reactions and the excitement” that led to his U-turn on axing the top rate of income tax. He acknowledged the “extraordinary events” of the last 10 days and recent months in a brief speech at a PolicyExchange drinks reception at the Tory party conference. “Beyond the market reactions and the excitement, there’s a real strong body of ideas there which are all about growth,” he said. Kwarteng added despite the “hullabaloo about my statement”, business people had praised his plan for growth. Here is Jacob Rees-Mogg’s remarks that he would be ‘delighted’ for his back garden to be fracked, as he risked deepening divisions within the Conservative party by deriding those who oppose the controversial practice as ‘socialists’. Nick Timothy, who was chief of staff to Theresa May, believes it will be “very, very difficult” for Liz Truss to recover from the position she’s in. He believes the PM and Kwasi Kwarteng have “dug themselves in an absolutely enormous hole”. Timothy told LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr: “I think it’s very, very difficult to recover from the position she’s in. “I think anybody who makes the assumption that therefore she might be removed or have to leave as PM, I think is over-egging it at this stage. “But they’ve dug themselves in an absolutely enormous hole and it’s going to be very difficult to get out of it.” Truss added she wants a settlement with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol which “works for everybody”. She said she can see no reason why an Assembly and Executive cannot be re-established now at Stormont. Asked if an election would be called if the Stormont powersharing institutions are not restored by October 28, Truss replied: “Yes, there will.” Liz Truss said Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker was speaking for himself when he apologised for his previous “ferocious” stance on negotiations with the EU. In an interview with UTV, the prime minister said: “Steve speaks for himself. “I think we have a very good relationship with the Republic of Ireland. I have had a very good meeting with the Taoiseach (Micheal Martin) talking about the future. “I want to work constructively with the Republic of Ireland and the EU as well as all the parties in Northern Ireland. “Steve speaks from his own personal experience being deeply involved in the Brexit debate, but he speaks for the whole Government in that we absolutely want to find a negotiated solution to deal with the issues of the Northern Ireland Protocol and work with our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland.” The author of a controversial government report which claimed that Britain was no longer a place “where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities” has told an event at the Tory Party conference that ‘the left’ has to take responsibility for what he described as “the weaponisation” of race. Dr Tony Sewell, who was the chair of the government’s commission on race and ethnic disparities, told the fringe event that the body’s report had been misrepresented by people who had not read it and who, he claimed, had claimed him “a race denier.” “What I am trying to say is that the weaponisation of this today is based on a simplification,” he said, adding that “white guilt” was also part of this. The result of laws and the atmosphere created by this, Sewell claimed, was that black people ended up being feeling restricted and believed that there needed to be ‘safe spaces’. He gave the example of walking clubs in which people from ethnic minorities came together. “Slowly the weaponisation comes in to restrict you and I do think that some people on the left have to take responsibility for this,” he added. When it was published in 2021, academics pulled apart claims in Sewell’s report that teaching about Britain’s colonial past should include material that “speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering, but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain”. Among other critics, Doreen Lawrence, who campaigned for justice for 18 years after the murder of her son Stephen by racists, warned that the report risked pushing the fight against racism “back 20 years or more” for undermining the existence of structural racism. Work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith has said “protecting the most vulnerable is a priority for me”. Speaking from the main stage of the Conservative Party conference, she noted the government has confirmed that pensions “will again be supported by the triple lock”. She went on: “I can say today that as a part of continuing what we’ve done with our broader cost-of-living payments, to help the pensioners, to help the disabled people, to help those on the lowest incomes, we are making the next payments in the month of November and I know that will be welcome news to many.” UK"s first prototype nuclear fusion power station to be built by 2040 Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced the UK’s first prototype nuclear fusion power station will be built in Nottinghamshire by 2040. He told the Conservative Party conference: “Over the decades we have established ourselves as pioneers in fusion science and as a country our capabilities to surmount these obstacles is unparalleled, and I am delighted to make an announcement of a vital step in that mission. “We will build the UK’s first prototype fusion energy plant in Nottinghamshire, replacing the West Burton coal-fired power station with a beacon of bountiful green energy.” Rees-Mogg added: “The plant will be the first of its kind, built by 2040 and capable of putting energy on the grid, and in doing so will prove the commercial viability of fusion energy to the world.” Iran’s most senior diplomat in the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office on Monday, over the country’s crackdown on the wave of protests. Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in protest at the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by police in the capital Tehran for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s Islamic dress code. The foreign secretary said he had instructed the Foreign Office to summon Mehdi Hosseini Matin. James Cleverly said: “The violence levelled at protesters in Iran by the security forces is truly shocking. “Today we have made our view clear to the Iranian authorities - instead of blaming external actors for the unrest, they should take responsibility for their actions and listen to the concerns of their people. “We will continue to work with our partners to hold the Iranian authorities to account for their flagrant human rights violations.” Government announces it will replace GDPR rules The government “will be replacing GDPR (general data protection regulation) with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system,” culture secretary Michelle Donelan announced. Making her speech at the ICC in Birmingham, she said the “bureaucratic nature” of EU GDPR “is still limiting the potential of our businesses”. She added: “That is why today, conference, I am announcing that we will be replacing GDPR with our own business and consumer friendly British data protection system.” Rees-Mogg, whose residence is the 17th-century Gournay Court in the parish of West Harptree, Somerset, earlier welcomed fracking on his land. “Yes, of course I would. I would be delighted, particularly if I get these royalties,” he said. “If we do what I’m suggesting on shale gas you would be doing a public service by doing it in your back garden but you’d also get paid for it.” Rees-Mogg has claimed “the Prime Minister since she took office has completed about a year’s Government business in a fortnight”. The business secretary added: “I am glad to say, the Prime Minister, and I say this as minister for energy, is a genuine dynamo and is producing electric fields that are making sure things get done. “She knows how urgent the challenges we face are. And the challenges are particularly in energy. First of all, affordability this winter, second, securing energy supplies. And third, what I’d like to call intelligent net zero. And how are we tackling those challenges? Well, rapidly is the answer.” Rees-Mogg pointed to the energy price guarantee for households and the energy bill relief scheme for businesses, before adding: “There may be some people who think it’s not Conservative to intervene in this way. “But I would say that there was no question that we had to come to the British people’s aid.”