Inside Politics: Time for the voters to have their say

The Independent calls for a general election as Truss faces further backbench discontent, with No 10 preparing the ground for another U-turn on pensions ‘triple lock’, writes Matt Mathers

GBRETAÑA-GOBIERNO (AP)

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

It is Wednesday and that means only one thing: Prime Minister’s Questions. Today’s session feels like it might be one of those times when you drive past a car crash – you know you shouldn’t look but you just can’t help it.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for:

No escaping scrutiny or hiding under a desk for Liz Truss; prime minister’s questions will last at least 30 minutes.

Publication of the inflation figure for September will fuel the intense debate among Tory MPs and ministers over whether benefits should rise by that amount next April, as they normally would. The figure will also shape the Bank of England’s next decision on interest rates on 3 November.

Jon Cunliffe, the bank’s deputy governor with responsibility for financial stability, will be questioned by the Treasury select committee.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the transport secretary, will make her first appearance before the transport select committee.

Labour will try to exploit Tory divisions by using an opposition day debate to propose a ban on fracking.

Daily briefing

‘When, not if’

Crunch. Crucial. Critical. Make or break. These are just some of the words used in recent weeks to describe Liz Truss’s appearances before MPs and the wider public. But none of them applies to today’s session of Prime Minister’s Questions because it seems there is a consensus now – both across the Commons and throughout the country – that this is a leader who has got all the crucial calls wrong, has been crunched by the weight of office, is broken and has no way to make things right.

“Absolutely right,” Michael Gove, the former levelling up secretary, said yesterday when asked if it was “no longer a question of whether Truss goes, but when she goes”. “The question for any leader is what happens when the programme or the platform on which you secured the leadership has been shredded,” he added. Having junked most of her mini-Budget, Truss is in office but has no mandate from either her party or the wider electorate. Can the Conservative Party, whose members want Boris Johnson to return, be trusted to choose her successor? The Independent says no: the country cannot afford another Tory PM following seven chaotic years under Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Truss, and today launches a campaign calling for the voters to choose their next leader.

It is not clear what Truss plans to say – or how she will defend herself at PMQs later – given that Jeremy Hunt, the new boss, has taken an axe to said economic agenda. And there are fresh reports this morning that a Conservative Party pledge to keep pensions rising in line with inflation or wages – whichever is higher – is under threat as the chancellor continues trying to repair the damage inflicted on the economy by his predecessor’s disastrous financial statement. Truss’s spokesperson said last night the PM was not making any commitments – two weeks after saying she was “committed” to keeping the “triple lock”.

While scrapping the pledge will upset the Tory faithful and cause fresh discontent on the back benches and within the cabinet, it is not difficult to see why Downing Street is looking again at the triple lock, given the current economic climate. New figures published within the past hour show that last month inflation soared back to a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent, following a slight dip in August of 9.9 per cent. It was above the expectations of economists, who had predicted a figure of 10 per cent. The figure matches the 40-year high inflation hit in July and remains well above the government’s target of 2 per cent. The figures from September are the ones usually used to decide the increase in the state pension.

GBRETAÑA-GOBIERNO (AP)

Frack off latest

Truss arch-loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg has come under fire in recent weeks over the government’s plans for fracking and the business secretary is now facing a legal challenge,The Independent can reveal.

Environmental and community groups have sent a legal letter, seen by The Independent, to notify the business secretary of their intention to seek judicial review of his decision, on the grounds that it was “unlawful” to reverse the 2019 ban on the controversial gas extraction method without fresh scientific evidence to prove it is safe.

The move by Friends of the Earth, Talk Fracking and Preston New Road Action Group comes as MPs vote on a Labour bid to ban fracking “once and for all” through a parliamentary vote.

Starmer’s Labour calling on Conservative MPs to back a motion on Wednesday which would guarantee time in the Commons for a bill to outlaw the practice permanently.

(Dave Brown)

On the record

Michael Gove, the former levelling up secretary, on Truss’s future.

“The question for any leader is what happens when the programme or the platform on which you secured the leadership has been shredded.”

From the Twitterati

Sebastian Payne, Financial Times Whitehall editor, hears 1922 Committee chair met with chancellor.

“1922 insiders confirm Graham Brady met with Jeremy Hunt ahead of his appearance before Tory MPs tomorrow. ‘He is new in office and hasn’t been for some time,’ one senior MP says. Brady has told colleagues he’s ‘always happy’ to talk things over, but a pre 22 meeting is unusual.”

Essential reading

• Hamish McRae, The Independent: Has Jeremy Hunt done enough to save us from recession?
• Alastair Campbell, The Independent: Britain is going backwards with these people in charge
• John Rentoul, The Independent: Tory MPs’ agonising dilemma: Should they dump Liz Truss now or later?
• Helen Lewis, The Atlantic: The prime minister who did everything wrong

Inside Politics first appeared in our daily morning email. You can sign up via this link.