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Who would be in cabinet if Liz Truss becomes prime minister?
With the Tory leadership ballot closing Friday 2 September and Truss expected to be confirmed as the next Prime Minister, speculation over her plans for cabinet has risen.
Kwasi Kwarteng, business secretary, old friend, and co-author with Truss on their 2012 book Britannia Unchained, is in line to be her chancellor and the pair have been in near-constant dialogue. Similarly described as free market Tories from the right of the party, both want to see a leaner, deregulated state, and crucially are more relaxed about debt than Rishi Sunak. Kwarteng has described his approach as one in which he will “facilitate, not emasculate” the demands of the prime minister, avoiding a repeat of the tensions between Boris Johnson and Sunak.
Truss is said to be considering offering Sunak the role of health secretary. Though the norm is that the losing candidate is offered a significant job, it is not clear that after such a heated campaign he will accept it. Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, is considered the alternative should Sunak say no.
Suella Braverman is said to be a “done deal” as home secretary while James Cleverly is expected to become foreign secretary. Jacob Rees-Mogg is thought to be lined up for the role of levelling-up secretary, while Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, is being considered as the chief whip. Kemi Badenoch, one of the standout performers of the leadership campaign, is a possible education secretary, though is also in the running to be culture secretary.
Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, has been linked to the role of Northern Ireland secretary although it is not “nailed on”. Discussions about his role continue. Both Michael Gove and Dominic Raab who have both shared public disagreements with Truss will be cast out of the cabinet, sources say.
Truss wants to reassert No 10 as an “economic nerve centre” to balance relations with the Treasury. James Bowler, a former permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, is tipped as her cabinet secretary.
Source: The Times, 20 August 2022
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Truss told to be transparent over her plans for emergency cost-of-living budget
Tory leadership contest frontrunner Liz Truss has been urged by Rishi Sunak supporters to be more transparent with her plans for an emergency budget to address the cost-of-living crisis. Truss has signalled an emergency budget for firms and households will be set up within weeks if she succeeds Boris Johnson next month. Conservative MP Mel Stride, who chairs the Commons Treasury Committee, questioned reports that she is not planning to ask the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for a forecast ahead of the measures she is planning for next month.
Mr Stride, a Rishi Sunak supporter, told LBC: “At the moment the Liz camp are saying I believe that there will not be any OBR forecast produced at that time and that is kind of like flying blind. It means that you do all these dramatic things on tax etcetera but you don’t actually know what the independent forecaster believes the impact will be on the public finances and I think that is quite a serious situation were that to come about.” Asked if OBR scrutiny would be bureaucratic in a time of crisis, Mr Stride said: “No. We are asking for transparency and reassurance that whatever whoever wins this contest comes forward with is affordable and not reckless.”
The former chancellor’s campaign called on Ms Truss to “come clean”, and claimed her plans to borrow in order to fund tax cuts were “dangerous”. Ms Truss has argued that tax cuts will help to grow the UK’s economy and boost prosperity. But senior Tories have criticised the Foreign Secretary’s plans, with former minister Michael Gove accusing her in a Times article of taking a “holiday from reality”.
A source said the OBR would need ten weeks to conduct its analysis.
Source: Evening Standard, 22 August 2022
See also: The Times - Liz Truss accused of trying to avoid scrutiny over budget
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Inflation could be worse than austerity for councils, Paul Johnson warns
The effects of inflation on local government could be worse than the period of austerity after 2010, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. Johnson told the Local Government Chronicle the Tory leadership contenders risked bringing back austerity “by the back door” if they did not increase public sector funding to compensate for rising costs.
His comments came after analysis by the IFS found ministers would need to give councils an additional £1.2bn to protect the 3% increase in core spending power for this year that was promised in the 2021 spending review.
Johnson said neither Liz Truss nor Rishi Sunak had discussed their plans for public spending and public services during the current leadership contest, despite this being “absolutely crucial” for the next prime minister. He said it was “inconceivable” the new leader would not find some more money for public services, but noted Liz Truss has been “talking about the reverse, and she's been talking as far as I can tell about finding savings”.
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 16 August 2022
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Vapers complain their devices are leaving them exhausted and blurring their vision
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has received around 200 cases over the past three years from people reporting 556 different side-effects.
Some reports involved coughing, hiccups, a sore throat or a croaky voice, and wheezing. Others included fatigue, a ringing sound in the ear and blurred vision.
Around three million people in England use e-cigarettes.
The watchdog said: “Reporting a reaction does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the e-cigarette.”
Editorial note: The MHRA yellow card scheme is a voluntary reporting system inviting healthcare professionals, caregivers and members of the public to report adverse reactions (ADRs) to medicines, vaccines, e-cigarette devices and more. Reports of suspected ADRs are regularly reviewed, and appropriate investigation and action is initiated if a possible problem is identified. Information relating to the MHRA and the Yellow Card scheme can be found on the MHRA website (www.mhra.gov.uk) and at www.yellowcard.gov.uk. It is important to note that reports alone are not interpreted as proven side effects of vaping products. MHRA standard review processes assess any causal links from temporal associations.
Source: The Sun, 21 August 2022
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