September 20, 2024

Starmer says Truss must recall parliament as pound falls despite Bank of England’s market intervention – UK politics live

Truss #Truss

Good morning. Keir Starmer’s speech to Labour delegates was widely praised yesterday, but he must be the first opposition leader in many years whose conference speech has, in effect, received an endorsement from the IMF. In his speech, Starmer said:

The government has lost control of the British economy – and for what? They’ve crashed the pound – and for what?

Higher interest rates. Higher inflation. Higher borrowing. And for what?

Not for you. Not for working people. For tax cuts for the richest 1% in our society. Don’t forget. Don’t forgive.

The IMF did not put it quite like that, but in an extraordinary statement last night it said something broadly similar – criticising the tax cuts (“we do not recommend large and untargeted fiscal packages at this juncture”) and calling for a rethink.

Related: IMF urges UK government to reconsider tax-cutting plans

Starmer is doing a round of interviews this morning. Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, Starmer said that, in the light of the IMF warnings, the government should urgently review the plans it set out in its mini-budget. He said:

The IMF statement is very serious, and it shows just what a mess the government have made of the economy. And it is self-inflicted. This was a step they didn’t have to take …

We all look at the graph and we see the pound falling, but it’s not an abstract graph; this is reflected in people’s mortgages etc and people are very, very worried this morning.

Some people who thought they had a mortgage arrangement last week now haven’t got one. Imagine that, a first-time buyer, suddenly your dream goes up.

This government has got to respond to this. They’ve got to set out, in terms, how are they going to fix the problems that they have made.

At the moment they are saying they might be doing something in November. That’s far too long. They’ve got to review the plans they put out on Friday. They’ve got to do it urgently, in my view.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.55am: Conference opens with a session including speeches from Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, Rosena Allin-Khan, the shadow minister for mental health, and Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary.

11.30am: The Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addresses the conference.

11.45am: Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, speaks as the conference concludes.

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