Liz Truss pulls bill of rights legislation, with comprehensive rewrite expected – live

Bill of rights bill to be shelved

The government is shelving the bill of rights bill, my colleague Jesssica Elgot reports. Whitehall sources say it needs a comprehensive rewrite.

This was the legislation drafted by Dominic Raab that was intended to give British courts more leeway to diverge from European court of human rights rulings.

Whitehall source says government is pulling second reading of the bill of rights – describes it as a “total mess” and that it needs a radical overhaul to stop it being vulnerable to multiple amendments

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 7, 2022

Key events

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No dedicated Brexit opportunities minister being appointed to replace Rees-Mogg, No 10 says

Here are the main points from the post-PMQs Downing Street lobby briefing.

The Prime Minister is clear that we will not be introducing any further taxes in this space, given that we want to see broader investment in domestic oil and gas production as a transition fuel during this current global crisis we face.

  • The spokesperson would not say whether the bill of rights, which has been shelved (see 12.45pm), would be reintroduced in the current parliament. He said:

A new secretary of state will consider all policies in their area, that will include ongoing bills proceeding through parliament. This is no different.

  • No 10 hinted that the ban on fracking will be lifted this week. During the leadership contest Truss said: “I support exploring fracking in parts of the United Kingdom where that can be done”. Asked if the fracking ban would be lifted this week, the press secretary would not comment on the announcement tomorrow, but he said Truss made her views clear during the campaing. This is from LBC’s Ben Kentish.

Interesting. Liz Truss’s Press Secretary says the new PM will stick to the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promises, saying: “The manifesto stands.” Repeats this line when asked about fracking, which Liz Truss has suggested she would lift the ban on. Here’s what the manifesto said: pic.twitter.com/lw69sx51HX

— Ben Kentish (@BenKentish) September 7, 2022

  • The spokesperson said Truss was still deciding whether or not to appoint an ethics adviser to replace Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests (to give him his formal title) who resigned when Boris Johnson was PM. The spokesperson said:

The prime minister wants to consider the best way to achieve the functions of that role, that level of oversight, and to ensure the government is held to the highest standards as the public expect.

  • No 10 said the government had abandoned the move to put Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope onto the privileges committee, which is investigating whether Johnson misled MPs over Partygate, because this was a decision for the new chief whip. Chope was meant to fill a space created by the resignation of Tory MP Laura Farris from the committee before the summer recess. The move was controversial because of suspicions that Chope might try to obstruct the inquiry.

  • No 10 confirmed that Jacob Rees-Mogg will not be replaced as Brexit opportunities minister. Rees-Mogg will still address this agenda as business secretary, and ministers in other department will consider Brexit opportunities too, Downing Street said.

Liz Truss and Keir Starmer face off for first time at PMQs – video

PMQs – verdict from Twitter commentariat

And this is what other journalists and commentors are saying about PMQs. Mostly people were just glad to hear the two main party leaders have a proper argument about policy.

From my colleague Rafael Behr on PMQs.

That’s a more substantial exchange of opinions on actual policy than we’ve had in pmqs for a while. Low bar, I know, but it’s definitely an improvement.

— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) September 7, 2022

So strategic lines clear. Truss is betting that politics of tax will cycle back to April 1992 and Starmer is Neil Kinnock. Starmer is betting that it’ll be more late-era Major and Tory brand is contaminated by arrogance of power and callous indifference to poverty.

— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) September 7, 2022

From Global’s Lewis Goodall

Weirdly, though neither are the most electric of performers, that was the most sharply focussed ideological clash we’ve seen at PMQs for some time. Which is exactly what many Tory MPs wanted.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 7, 2022

Ideological contours on display as we haven’t seen for some years. But should also remember that tonororw Liz Truss is going to announce borrowing and an intervention on a beyond Corbyneseque scale. Everything is still in flux.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) September 7, 2022

From my colleague Nesrine Malik

Reckon with that Truss has given the right wing media and the pundits enough for a coronation. Watch the front pages tomorrow.

— Nesrine Malik (@NesrineMalik) September 7, 2022

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

“I am against a windfall tax.”

Truss positions herself to the right of Margaret Thatcher (whose government imposed windfall taxes on banks and oil firms). #PMQs

— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) September 7, 2022

From Global’s Jon Sopel

Can’t help feeling Labour will be taking a deep gulp after #PMQs. @trussliz looking sure-footed, with some zinger one liners. And no shortage of intellectual self confidence.

— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) September 7, 2022

From my colleague John Crace

Truss making huge mistake of answering questions at PMQs

— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) September 7, 2022

From Sky’s Sophy Ridge

People might have been expecting less fireworks between Truss & Starmer at #pmqs but the clear blue water between their two ideologies is there for anyone to see…

— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) September 7, 2022

From the Sun’s Harry Cole

Some pretty clear blue water here. Truss sticking to her low tax growth guns. Starmer seems almost surprised.

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) September 7, 2022

From the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

Big #PMQs takeaway is a thick red dividing line is Truss will borrow, add debt, to fund an energy package while Starmer would fund one at least in part with a windfall tax on excess profits.

— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) September 7, 2022

From the FT’s Robert Shrimsley

First PMQs for a while in which both leaders argued the case for their competing economic ideas. Rather liked it.

— robert shrimsley (@robertshrimsley) September 7, 2022

PMQs – snap verdict

Every former prime minister says that taking PMQs is the most scary ordeal of the week and, even after 10 years in post, people like Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair regarded it as one of the ultimate challenges of the job – an encounter when a few wrong words could spell disaster. For any new prime minister, the first question is, are they up to it? And Liz Truss clearly is. She looked like a prime minister, she performed reasonably well, and she even managed a decent joke (on Labour leaders and north London – see 12.20pm.) It was not a triumph, but it was not a catastrophe either, and on day one that is a bonus.

Truss also marks a very welcome change from Boris Johnson, in that (for the most part) she was willing to answer questions, and engage in an argument about policy and ideas. This, of course, is what is meant to happen. But for the last three years we have been governed by a prime minister much more interested in politics as performance and entertainment, and so it is refreshing to tilt back to ideas.

But that is where the whole encounter was less positive for Truss. She won the Conservative leadership contest on a low-tax, small-state agenda that put her well to the right of any Tory leader for a generation. Truss has always been a libertarian (it’s why she joined the Liberal Democrats at university), but during the summer it was never entirely clear to what extent she was just pandering to her party’s cruder, Thatcherite instincts. But now we know; it’s worse than that (to quote an old Westminster joke) – she really does believe it.

Starmer exposed this clearly with questions that illuminated what may become the key dividing line in British politics. Truss has already shifted on to Labour territory by conceding the need for a price cap of some sort on energy bills. But while Labour is proposing to fund this through a windfall tax, Truss is resisting this and today she dug in firmly on this point, declaring categorically that a windfall tax would be wrong. Starmer said this was prioritising the interests of an industry making £170bn in profits and that as a result she was going for “more borrowing than is needed”, with taxpayers paying the price for years to come.

Maybe you can win a general election on this sort of purist, ideological Laffer curve worship? But it seems extremely unlikely. Tories like Rishi Sunak believe the claim that tax cuts alone will always promote growth is nonsense, and even figures in the energy industry are finding it hard to justify their excessive profits. Starmer did not put on a particularly flashy performance, but he sounded much closer to where the public opinion is on these issues and ultimately that is what matters.

Truss also had no convincing answer to the question posed to her by several MPs: how could people trust her to sort out the nation’s problems when she had been in government for the past 10 years? (Boris Johnson did not have this problem, because he was out of parliament for most of the David Cameron era, and he resigned from Theresa May’s government.) Starmer summed this all up in his final question. He told Truss:

The prime minister claims to be breaking orthodoxy but the reality is she’s reheating George Osborne’s failed corporation tax plans – protecting oil and gas profits and forcing working people to pay the bill.

She’s the fourth Tory prime minister in six years – the face at the top may change but the story remains the same.

There’s nothing new about the Tory fantasy of trickle-down economics, nothing new about this Tory prime minister who nodded through every decision that got us into this mess and now says how terrible it is, and can’t she see there’s nothing new about a Tory prime minister who when asked: who pays? says: ‘It’s you, the working people of Britain’?”

In response Truss said there was “nothing new about a Labour leader who is calling for more tax rises” and that Starmer was just offering “the same old tax and spend”. It demonstrated that she can think on her feet, but that won’t help much if voters conclude that what Starmer is saying makes more sense.

Bill of rights bill to be shelved

The government is shelving the bill of rights bill, my colleague Jesssica Elgot reports. Whitehall sources say it needs a comprehensive rewrite.

This was the legislation drafted by Dominic Raab that was intended to give British courts more leeway to diverge from European court of human rights rulings.

Whitehall source says government is pulling second reading of the bill of rights – describes it as a “total mess” and that it needs a radical overhaul to stop it being vulnerable to multiple amendments

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 7, 2022

Truss says she is committed to following through on the early years agenda championed by Dame Andrea Leadsom.

Helen Hayes (Lab) asks if the government will publish an action plan to deliver for vulnerable children before the end of the year – yes or no?

Yes, says Truss.

Sir Jeremy Wright (Con) asks for an assurance that the online safety bill will come back to the Commons.

Truss says it will come back, but there are some issues she wants to address. Some “tweaks” may be required to it, she says, to ensure it does more to protect free speech.

Rachel Hopkins (Lab) asks why people should trust Truss to deliver on the NHS when she has been in government while the problems have been created.

Truss accuses Hopkins of “talking down” the NHS. The NHS is recovering from the problems caused by Covid, she says.

Shailesh Vara (Con), who was sacked as Northern Ireland secretary last night, asks Truss to commit to proceeding with the Northern Ireland protocol bill if the EU does not compromise.

Truss says she wants a negotiated solution. But she will not allow this to drift. Her priority is protecting the supremacy of the Good Friday agreement.

Tony Lloyd (Lab) says child poverty has been growing. Can Truss promise that no child will have to go to bed in a cold, damp house?

Truss says that is why the government wants to ensure people can afford their energy bills, and why it wants to tackle the long-term supply issues.

Dame Caroline Dinenage (Con) asks if the government will pursue a strategy for child cancer.

Truss says the government will proceed with a strategy on this.





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