Inside Politics: ‘Selfless duty’

New King continues UK tour as questions remain over prime minister’s cost of living plan, writes Matt Mathers

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

King Charles III makes his first to Northern Ireland today as Liz Truss comes under further pressure to set out the details of how her cost of living plan will be paid for.

Inside the bubble

Parliament is not sitting.

Daily briefing

‘Selfless duty’

King Charles III today makes his first visit to Northern Ireland as the new monarch. His Majesty is scheduled to visit Hillsborough Castle, where he will meet Chris-Heaton Harris, the secretary of state, and other party leaders, who earlier this week paid tribute to the late Queen, Elizabeth II.

His Majesty will receive a message of condolence led by the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The King and Queen Consort will also carry out a number of engagements as part of his programme of visits across the UK. They travel to St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, where they will attend a service of reflection on the life of the late Queen.

Yesterday, in his first address to MPs and peers at Westminster Hall, the King said he “felt the weight of history which surrounds us” as he paid tribute to parliamentary traditions. He also thanked parliamentarians for their condolences, spoke of the “selfless duty” displayed by his mother and vowed to follow her example by maintaining the “precious principles of constitutional government”.

Last night, the King and other senior royals attended a vigil for the late Queen at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh as her body lay in rest, following a procession which started at the Palace of Holyroodhouse before travelling along the Royal Mile to its final destination. One man was arrested after Prince Andrew was heckled along the route.

Thousands of mourners queued up through the night to pay their respects to the late Queen. Later today Her Majesty’s coffin will be flown to Buckingham Palace before being taken to Westminster Hall for four days of lying in state, starting from tomorrow. Members of the public have already started queuing but have been warned to expect long waits.

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More details needed

Away from the Queen’s death, Liz Truss’s plan to deal with the cost of living crisis continues to dominate the political agenda.

The Guardian reports that Tory MPs are becoming increasingly twitchy about the lack of details and are demanding that the prime minister provides more clarity on her tax cuts and “handouts” on Thursday or Friday next week, after the country emerges from a period of mourning but before party conference season begins.

Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, gave the plan – to freeze bills at around £2,500 – short shrift yesterday as he warned Truss to “find something better” by next winter. The government has so far refused to explain exactly how much the plan will cost, something which Johnson described as “extraordinary”.

On the record

Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, criticises Liz Truss’s energy plan.

“One of the things that I really hope is that they’ve got teams of people working next year on thinking of something better for next winter.”

From the Twitterati

Financial Times chief politics correspondent Jim Pickard on protester being arrested outside parliament.

“It’s possible to believe the Royal Family are a great British tradition *and* protest against the establishment is also a great British tradition, this seems heavy-handed.”

Essential reading

• Sean O’Grady, The Independent: From ‘Rottweiler’ to Queen Consort – the story of Camilla
• Tom Peck, The Independent: King Charles’s first visit to parliament was heavy on the pomp and deference
• Melanie Phillips, The Times: Mourning lets a nation become a family again
• Will Dunn, The New Statesman: The real cost of Liz Truss’s energy plan is dizzying

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