Politics latest news: Half of all voters want Liz Truss to resign, poll shows in wake of market turmoil

• Inside the week that took Liz Truss to the edge

• Pound recovers all losses since mini-Budget

• Another 30-point lead for Labour in poll surge

• Sir Charles Walker: Tories will lose next election

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Half of all voters want Liz Truss to resign, a poll showed on Friday afternoon in the wake of a week of market turmoil after the mini-Budget.

It came as Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss rejected calls to bring forward an Office for Budget Responsibility forecast from November 23, when a medium-term fiscal plan will be confirmed. The OBR has said it will deliver the first of its projections to Mr Kwarteng next Friday.

The 51 per cent urging Ms Truss to quit after just four weeks in the job include more than one-third of 2019 Tory voters (36 per cent), while 54 per cent believe the Chancellor should resign.

Just three per cent of the public think that the mini-Budget had the right ideas, while 55 per cent believe the announcement had both the wrong ideas and was communicated badly.

Meanwhile there was yet another enormous poll lead for Labour courtesy of Omnisis, a member of the British Polling Council, with Sir Keir Starmer's party leading the Tories by 55 per cent to 23 per cent.

On the backbenches, Tory grandee Sir Charles Walker said he was "very sad" about Ms Truss's "lack of humility" in the wake of last week's mini-Budget.

And former minister Steve Double hit out at the abolition of the 45p top rate of income tax, telling BBC Radio Cornwall: "I can't explain it [to my constituents], it's not a decision I would have made. I've made that very clear to the whips... [It] is a decision I cannot explain and quite frankly I think it's a mistake."

04:12 PM

That's all for this week...

That more than half of Britons seem to want Liz Truss gone on only her twenty-fifth day in Downing Street speaks volumes about the start of her embattled premiership.

Ms Truss indicated during the campaign trail she was prepared to be unpopular to pursue her radical economic agenda, which includes the biggest tax-cutting package for five decades.

But some Tory MPs will be jittery about polling that gives Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party a lead of up to 33 points, a margin not seen since the height of Blairism and Cool Britannia in the late 1990s. Some are starting to publicly question, and even appear to undermine, their new leader.

This is in far more pessimistic circumstances, with the Government already doling out one of the biggest ever handout packages in the form of energy bill support as war continues to wage in Ukraine and markets struggle with rampant inflation.

Liz Truss has had anything but the "honeymoon" period afforded to most new prime ministers and party leaders. All the signs are that she will double down on her vision and note it may take time to yield. The Conservatives head to Birmingham for their annual party conference between Sunday and Wednesday. Ms Truss will have more than just a point to prove - this could prove a pivotal moment as she seeks to shore up support from party and country.

• Join us on Sunday for live coverage of Conservative Party Conference

03:48 PM

Foreign Secretary: UK will step up sanctions on Russia

The UK will escalate sanctions on Russia, the Foreign Secretary has said as he plans to restrict Moscow's access to key British commercial services.

James Cleverly added the export to Russia of almost 700 goods critical to manufacturing production will be banned.

03:46 PM

Half of all Britons think Truss should resign

Half of all Britons (51 per cent) think Liz Truss should resign, according to new YouGov polling.

This includes more than one-third (36 per cent) of 2019 Tory voters, while 54 per cent think Kwasi Kwarteng should resign.

Just three per cent of the public think that the mini-Budget had the right ideas, while 55 per cent believe the announcement had both the wrong ideas and was communicated badly.

Meanwhile there is yet another enormous poll lead for Labour courtesy of Omnisis, a member of the British Polling Council.

03:37 PM

Zelensky confirms Ukraine has applied for Nato membership

Ukraine has applied for Nato membership, Volodymyr Zelensky has announced.

In a message on his Telegram channel, the Ukrainian president said his country had already proven its eligibility "on the battlefield".

"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to Nato," he said.

It came after Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, met his Ukrainian counterpart in Kyiv this week to discuss the ongoing war and reiterate the country's support.

03:23 PM

Vladimir Putin calls for peace talks with Kyiv as Russia annexes four Ukrainian regions

Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, called for peace talks with Kyiv as Russia formally annexed four Ukrainian regions on Friday.

Speaking to hundreds of Russia’s top politicians in the Kremlin’s lavish St George's Hall, Putin said voters in the referendums had made "an unequivocal choice" to join the Russian Federation.

"We suggest returning to the talks but we’re not going to discuss the choice that people there have made, and Russia is not going to betray it," he said.

Kyiv and the West have dismissed the votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as a sham, but Putin said those living in the four regions "are becoming our citizens for good".

Read more of our Ukraine coverage here

03:13 PM

Boris Johnson: Putin, your speech is a fraud and a disgrace

03:01 PM

Analysis: Truss has it all to prove at conference

It is hard to remember the build-up to a party political conference quite like it.

The past week has been dominated by market turmoil and private criticism becoming public sideswipes among Tory MPs in the wake of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget.

Ms Truss finds her party as many as 33 points behind Sir Keir Starmer's Labour - fresh from its own triumphalist conference - as Conservative delegates gather in Birmingham from Sunday through to Wednesday.

So far the Prime Minister has stuck to her guns and reiterated she is willing to be unpopular as a result of taking decisions she deems necessary to transform the economy and fix a decade of slow growth and stagnation.

Already, there is internal criticism - most but not all from Rishi Sunak supporters - about misreading the mood of the nation during a cost-of-living crisis, and the optics of abolishing the 45p top rate of income tax. Some feel the current set of policies is just too much of a gamble.

With this in mind, Ms Truss must play a strong hand with her keynote speech and any further policy announcements if her party intends to sweep the board come the time of the next election.

02:31 PM

Truss will fly to Prague to join new 'European political community'

Liz Truss is set to meet European leaders next week at a new community initiative proposed by France’s Emmanuel Macron.

The Prime Minister will jet to Prague for the inaugural gathering of the "European political community", marking her second overseas visit since taking the reins of Downing Street.

Ms Truss decided to attend after energy and migrants, the Prime Minister's top priorities, were listed at the top of the event’s agenda.

Downing Street sources say that it was also vital Ukraine would be attending in some capacity.

Joe Barnes and Nick Gutteridge have the story

02:19 PM

The Tories’ real problem is they are afraid to cut the size of the state

There are two important questions to be asked about the past week. How did things fall apart so quickly? And how did we find ourselves on this cliff-edge of economic turmoil? asks Kate Andrews.

Kate Andrews: The Tories now lack fiscal discipline

01:42 PM

Social media content viewed by Molly Russell contributed to her death, coroner rules

Social media material viewed by Molly Russell contributed to her death, a coroner has concluded in a damning blow to the tech giants.

The 14-year-old took her own life in November 2017 after months of "bingeing" on suicide, self-harm and depression related content on platforms including Instagram and Pinterest.

Following her family’s five-year wait for answers, Andrew Walker, a senior coroner, set out his findings following a fortnight-long inquest.

He told North London Coroner’s Court that some of the sites viewed by Molly were “not safe” for children to use.

Jack Hardy, our Crime Correspondent, has this write-up

01:33 PM

Pound erases earlier gains against dollar

The pound has erased its earlier gains against the dollar today after it emerged that the Treasury has not asked the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to speed up the delivery of its economic forecast.

The report was confirmed after the meeting between Liz Truss, Kwasi Kwarteng and OBR officials, with readouts from both sides saying the forecasts will be delivered in time for Mr Kwarteng's medium term plan on November 23.

Sterling traded 0.2 per cent lower, at around $1.11, after earlier soaring more than one per cent amid speculation that Truss could water down her policies, including unfunded tax cuts, which have roiled markets.

01:29 PM

Liz Truss to appear on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

The Prime Minister will once again face questions from Laura Kuenssberg on her BBC One politics show from 8.30am on Sunday.

Ms Truss spoke to the show on September 4, a day before her election as Tory leader and Prime Minister, in what proved to be one of her most revealing interviews as an informative line of questioning saw her paint a picture about what a Truss administration may look like.

Of course, a lot has happened since - and there will no doubt be plenty of tough questions as she enters her fifth week in No 10.

01:22 PM

We need to 'work as a family' with unions to avoid rail strikes, says new Transport Secretary

The new Transport Secretary has signalled a marked change in the Government’s strategy towards the rail unions by offering to "work as a family" to find a solution to the disputes which have crippled the network.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said this morning - just hours before the three rail unions are set to bring the network grinding to a halt - that she wanted "bring everyone together" to find a solution everyone can live with.

Her words mark a significant shift away from the policy of non-intervention in the dispute adopted by the previous transport secretary, Grant Shapps - described as irresponsible and confrontational by the unions and the Labour Party.

Patrick Sawer has her full comments

01:06 PM

Things only getting better for Sir Keir

Labour has a 30-point lead in a new opinion poll that will further stoke Tory fears about public perception of Liz Truss and her Government.

The survey was carried out by People Polling - a new firm led by Matthew Goodwin, the pollster and academic.

Sir Keir Starmer's party is on 50 per cent (up 10 percentage points on the previous week), while the Conservatives are on just 20 per cent (down eight).

The fieldwork, carried out yesterday, puts the Liberal Democrats on nine per cent and the Greens on eight per cent.

12:51 PM

Time is running out, warns backbench Tory in op-ed

It's been quite a week on the Tory backbenches. And Peter Aldous, the MP for Waveney, has written an excoriating article about Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's plans for the House magazine this lunchtime.

"Time is running out to show the British people that the Conservative Party deserves to retain the honour of serving as their government," Mr Aldous wrote in an accompanying tweet.

In the article, he added: "This week’s economic fallout from the Chancellor’s statement on 23 September has been painful to watch.

"as a Conservative I am also acutely conscious of budgetary constraints, and the need for sound money. Nothing about the Chancellor’s opening weeks at the Treasury have reassured me – nor, more importantly, the markets – in this regard."

12:28 PM

Chopper's Politics: Trussonomics - what went wrong?

"I'm wary of blaming anybody, because it was pretty clear that this was going to be the strategy of the new team."

Julian Jessop, Economic Fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs, joins Christopher Hope on this week's Chopper's Politics podcast to talk about what has gone wrong for Trussonomics.

Make sure you have a listen here

12:06 PM

Eight areas set for reform

Ben Riley-Smith, our Political Editor, understands there are eight supply side reform areas that we can expect announcements on between now and November 23: business regulation, agriculture, housing and planning, immigration, mobile and broadband, financial services, childcare and energy.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, slammed the lack of any "serious plan" to reform employment services "to help people into work and tackle labour market shortages", adding: "This government really is clueless."

And on the Treasury rejecting calls for an early OBR forecast, Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "Delaying this forecast means shutting the door long after the horse has bolted.

"Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are allowing the economy to fly blind for two months, while their reckless plans cause pension and mortgage misery for millions of British people."

11:59 AM

What a difference a week makes

Only last week Steve Double appeared to be glowing in his praise of the mini-Budget.

"These measures give people more money in their pockets and will allow the economy the room it needs to recover," he said.

11:32 AM

'Adult' migrants referred to charity nearly all turned out to be children

Age assessments for migrants are "woeful" with nearly all of those referred to charities or councils found to be wrong, writes Charles Hymas.

The Refugee Council revealed 94 per cent of the 233 migrant children aged under 18 that it supported last year had been wrongly assessed as being adults and housed with older people.

In more than half of the cases (141), the Home Office had claimed the children were at least 25 but only seven were subsequently judged to be adults after further more comprehensive assessments.

Further evidence, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, suggested it was a widespread problem. They showed that at least 450 young people were referred to 18 local authorities in 2021 over concerns that they may be children. Three-quarters were found to be children.

Read more on this story here

11:20 AM

Tory grandee: How much will we lose next election by?

Sir Charles Walker, who has been a Tory MP since 2005 and plans to stand down at the next election, was blunt in his Times Radio interview about his party's prospects at the ballot box.

"I think it's hard to construct an argument now that the Conservatives can win that general election," he said. "I suspect the conversation is, you know, how much do we lose it by?

"And what is our duty to the country is to get the public finances in the best shape possible. So if we do lose the general election, we hand over some form of a legacy to the party or government that replaces us. I mean, we're a patriotic party."

Sir Charles insisted the party's first duty "is to the country... not to get re-elected".

11:06 AM

Breaking: Truss and Kwarteng meet with OBR

Richard Hughes, Andy King and Professor David Miles - members of the OBR's budget responsibility committee - walked into 11 Downing Street at 9.45am, before walking out at 10.33am.

10:55 AM

David Dimbleby turns the air blue over Tories

David Dimbleby has made a rare comment on politics, using an expletive on air to describe the UK’s economic turmoil, writes Craig Simpson.

The former Question Time host and veteran of the BBC, who was previously restrained by the corporation's impartiality rules before his retirement, has criticised the "massive changes" ushered in by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

Mr Dimbleby described the UK’s currency economic situation as a "complete s---storm" when speaking on BBC political podcast Newscast. His comment came after the podcast Adam Fleming told him: "I should make clear, you don't work for the BBC, you can speak really freely."

Mr Dimbleby gave his frank views on the policies outlined in the min-budget, saying:  “I haven't seen anything quite so melodramatic as this. I think it stands up because I think what Kwasi Kwarteng announced was a massive change."

10:51 AM

Sir Charles Walker: Truss's 'lack of humility' is 'painful'

Tory grandee Sir Charles Walker said he is "very sad" in the wake of last week's mini-Budget.

"To see my party creating these unforced errors is very painful," the backbencher told Times Radio. "The lack of humility is what I find most painful."

10:46 AM

Let's find a landing zone, Transport Secretary tells unions

The new Transport Secretary offered to "work as a family" to find a "balance" with trade unions as she signalled a warmer approach then her predecessor.

In contrast to Grant Shapps, who refused to meet with union leaders, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said she "respected" bosses who were looking for higher pay settlements.

"I’m a mum of a family," Ms Trevelyan told the Evening Standard. "Negotiation, compromise, everyone not quite getting every vegetable on the plate that they want, or every pudding that they want, that’s how life works and in this it’s no different.

“Hopefully, my view of the world and the ability to bring everyone together is something that will get everyone to agree that we can find a landing zone that we can all live with.”

10:37 AM

Steve Double: 'There is very, very great concern'

How long does Double give Liz Truss? "I think she needs to act quickly. I'm not going to get drawn into how much time. I mean, we're 30 points behind in the polls, of course that is deeply concerning and unless that situation is reversed quickly then yeah, she will be vulnerable."

10:32 AM

Double or quits

A Tory MP urged Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng to reverse the abolition of the 45p top rate of income tax as he revealed he would not be attending next week's party conference in Birmingham.

Steve Double described the lack of an OBR forecast as "the biggest mistake" of the mini-Budget and criticised Mr Kwarteng's "lack of detail" about public services or balancing the books in the medium term.

"I can't explain it [to my constituents], it's not a decision I would have made," he told BBC Radio Cornwall. "I've made that very clear to the whips. At this particular moment, when so many households are facing huge pressures on their finances in the coming months, to make that decision now is a decision I cannot explain and quite frankly I think it's a mistake.

"I think I've made it clear and a number of my colleagues have made it clear that the Government should reverse that decision."

10:18 AM

Out and about

10:16 AM

The week Truss shocked her own allies

Liz Truss has been oddly quiet for the last few days, but the strangest silence comes from those who ought to be defending her, writes Fraser Nelson.

She's doing what she promised: defying the consensus, slashing taxes, tearing up rule books – things so many of the Tory faithful have spent years urging their leaders to do. So why, now, are her former supporters all so quiet?

I’ve been speaking to a few of them recently, trying to make sense of things. As are they. On the record, they are stoic. Blame Putin for instability, they say. And aren’t some forecasters already predicting a Lazarus-style recovery next year?

But off the record, the same MPs use words like "debacle", "self-inflicted disaster", and "staggering incompetence" and add that politics is not, in the end, a numbers game.

Fraser Nelson: The question on every Tory's lips

10:07 AM

Britain not in recession yet, ONS reveals

The pound recovered all of its losses since Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget this morning as Britain's official forecaster admitted it was mistaken about the country entering a recession in the second quarter.

Sterling rose to $1.116 against the dollar, recovering from a low point of just under $1.04 which it touched at the peak of the market’s gloom on Monday morning.

It came as the Office for National Statistics revealed the economy grew by 0.2pc in the second quarter, rather than the previous estimate of a 0.1pc fall in GDP.

A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

It is now thought likely that a contraction began in the third quarter of 2022 instead.

09:50 AM

Breaking: Liz Truss makes statement on Putin annexations

09:39 AM

Michael Gove's conference speaking spree

Liz Truss is facing a major Tory conference headache with arch-critic Michael Gove due to speak at more than half a dozen fringe events.

Mr Gove, a former Cabinet heavyweight, backed Rishi Sunak in the leadership vote and has described Ms Truss’s economic plans as a "holiday from reality".

His appearance will come amid simmering discontent on the Conservative back benches over the financial chaos unleashed by the mini-Budget.

Mr Gove, sacked by Boris Johnson in early July, did not take part in any events when he was last on the back benches in 2016. But this year he is to address eight different fringe meetings when Tory ministers, MPs and activists gather in Birmingham next week.

Read more: How Gove could cause trouble for Truss

09:31 AM

God save us from the wicked social media giants

If I could press a button that would mean social media was never invented, I would do it in a heartbeat, Allison Pearson writes.

Parents like me who have watched a child suffer from mental health problems triggered by the emotional crack cocaine distributed by the rapacious algorithm dealers of California feel so helpless.

Get off your phone," we plead. But a phone is not just a phone. It’s their whole world. How do you confiscate a world?

Now, the inquest into the death of Molly Russell at North London Coroner’s Court has brought a long-overdue moment of reckoning.

Allison Pearson: Dangerous algorithms threaten every household

09:21 AM

Use conference to reassure public, urges former minister

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng must "restore order" to the public finances, a former justice minister said this morning.

James Cartlidge, the Tory MP for South Suffolk who supported Rishi Sunak during the leadership campaign, wrote on Twitter:

09:18 AM

'My mortgage offer went from 4.5% to 10.5%'

"My mortgage offer went from 4.5 per cent to 10.5 percent," a first-time buyer has told an incredulous BBC Question Time audience.

The young audience member said her lender had doubled the interest rate on her prospective mortgage since Friday, which has priced her out.

She told the panel: "I was actually in the process of getting a mortgage as a young person and I was told my initial interest rate would be 4.5 per cent and then I was told today that the lender has pulled that offer and now the best offer I can get is about 10.5 per cent."

The other audience members and panel looked gobsmacked at the interest rate hike, with audible gasps and murmurs of "wow" filling the auditorium.

India McTaggart has the full story

09:00 AM

Pound briefly erases all previous losses

The pound's rally early this morning saw it briefly erase all of its precipitous losses from last week following the announcement of the new government's mini-Budget, writes James Warrington.

Sterling has gained more than 7pc from its all-time low of $1.0327 at the start of the week. In early Asian trade today it was sitting at $1.1168 - about the same level it was at before Kwasi Kwarteng began his speech last Friday, announcing the UK's sweeping tax cuts. However, at around 4am it dropped down to $1.1092.

According to strategists, the Bank of England's bond purchases and the stabilisation of gilts yields were a big factor in soothing investor fears.

Follow the latest business news here

08:54 AM

David Frost: Liz Truss has offered sound economics, but terrible communication

Lord Frost: Why Truss cannot afford to give her enemies ammunition

08:46 AM

Breaking: Financial Secretary hints growth plans could be brought forward

Andrew Griffith tells the Today programme:

"The quicker we can get to a position that we are able to lay out our plans for growth, make sure that the OBR can understand those, reflect them in the forecasts, and get those forecasts out in the market."

08:35 AM

Echoes of 1997 as Labour lead surges

Labour now enjoys a 33-point lead over the Conservatives, after days of market turmoil sparked by Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget on Friday.

Liz Truss's Government has been engulfed in a political and economic crisis since then after the £45 billion tax-cutting package spooked markets and forced the Bank of England to intervene.

Now, days before Ms Truss arrives at her first Conservative Party conference as Prime Minister, a poll from YouGov suggests that Labour currently sits on 54 per cent - 33 points ahead of the Tories on 21 per cent.

According to the poll, support for the Conservatives has fallen by seven points in the past four days, handing Labour a mammoth lead against the party.

Read the full story here

08:31 AM

'There's a lot of measures to come'

Andrew Griffith insisted it was "important" the Government now took up the independent forecasts of the OBR, after previously rejecting an offer to do this for last week's mini-Budget.

The Financial Secretary said there were more measures to follow "in the coming weeks", without which the OBR would not be able to draw up accurate projections.

"There's a lot of measures about how we're going to grow the economy [about which] the detail is yet to come out," he told the Today programme.

"There's a lot of measures in there, bringing out the infrastructure plans, dealing with the damaging strikes that mean people tomorrow aren't going to get their post and aren't going to be able to take their train to work."

Mr Griffith also promised to "unlock" the housing market by building more homes.

08:28 AM

George Osborne welcomes Liz Truss's OBR meeting

This from the former Chancellor, who described it as a "welcome move" - and appeared to take a swipe at Ms Truss's credibility:

08:26 AM

Minister: We understand your concerns - but this is a global problem

The Financial Secretary said his Government "understand the concerns over every household" amid the current market turmoil.

Andrew Griffith insisted rising interest rates and inflation were part of a "wider global phenomenon".

Pressed on recent mortgage chaos, he told the Today programme: "It's a feature of the mortgage market and I'm very conscious that this doesn't help your listeners. There's a whole package of measures that we want to come forward with.

"We've seen a particular dynamic over the last week, that's absolute the case, no one should get around that. In fairness, this all stems to the world that changed on February 24, the issue about the cost of energy. Yesterday, German inflation hit 11 per cent, right, that's higher than the rate of inflation in the UK."

08:18 AM

Benefits hit as Liz Truss tries to stem the mini-Budget bleeding

Benefits payments are set to fall in real terms under government plans to reassure the City that it will control spending.

Efforts to calm the markets in the wake of the mini-Budget came as a new poll showed Labour had a 33-point lead over the Conservatives – believed to be the biggest for any party since the late 1990s.

Yesterday, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng used interviews to insist they would not ditch any element of their tax-slashing announcements, made last Friday, after a week in which the pound fell to record lows and interest rates soared.

Instead, they made it clear that a squeeze on government departments was coming, with public spending remaining at levels agreed last year despite inflation eating into those budgets.

Ben Riley-Smith and Nick Gutteridge have the story

08:16 AM

'Reverse the Budget - that would be a start'

Labour has urged the Conservatives to cancel their annual party conference as the shadow business secretary railed against Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's plans.

A deeply divided Tory Party heads to Birmingham between Sunday and Wednesday for what many had hoped would be a celebratory coronation for Liz Truss, but has become a crucial early test of what is already an embattled premiership.

Speaking to Sky News, Jonathan Reynolds urged Ms Truss: "Stop these daft statements - I mean the Bank of England and the Government are in completely different places, let's be frank, that's another reason why there's so little confidence in the British economy.

"Cancel your conference, get back to Parliament, reverse the Budget, that would be a start."

Mr Reynolds added that individual policies in the Budget added up to a picture that was "unsustainable... their whole approach to this is at fault."

08:11 AM

Good morning

Dominic Penna here, the Telegraph's political reporter, guiding you through another busy day in politics as Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have a crunch meeting with the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The meeting should force a rethink of their mini-Budget, a leading Rishi Sunak ally urged.

Mel Stride, who was the chairman of Rishi Sunak's leadership campaign, insisted they had to change their plans - which he insisted did not meet "reasonable" fiscal rules.