Inside Politics: The end of an era

Liz Truss and Keir Starmer lead tributes to Her Majesty, who died yesterday aged 96, writes Matt Mathers

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

The UK is mourning the death of Elizabeth II, the country’s longest-reigning monarch, who passed away yesterday at Balmoral, aged 96. MPs will pay tribute to Her Majesty in the Commons from noon.

Inside the bubble

Most parliamentary business has been suspended.

Daily briefing

Tributes

New prime minister Liz Truss and Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, led tributes to Her Majesty last night as MPs from across the Commons paid their respects to a sovereign who oversaw vast changes in social and political life during a reign spanning seven decades.

The core elements of the government machine will continue running today but most parliamentary business has been suspended as a mark of respect, with the country now in 10 days of mourning. MPs will, however, pay further tribute to Her Majesty in the Commons from noon – and again tomorrow – when senior members will also take an oath to the new King.

The Queen’s death marks the end of the Elizabethan area and leaders around the world have also been paying their respects, including Joe Biden, the US president, who described Her Majesty as “more than a monarch”.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the Queen died “peacefully”, with the official announcement being made at 6.40pm, shortly after senior royals rushed to Balmoral to be at her side. King Charles III will travel with the Queen’s consort to London, where His Majesty will later in the day meet with Ms Truss.

At midday bells will ring out from Windsor, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and churches across the country. Later this evening the King is expected to address the nation in a broadcast at around 6pm, after which there will be a service of thanksgiving and reflection.

It is a big moment for Truss, who has been in her job little over two days. Last night she held a ministerial meeting at Downing Street, which was attended by secretaries of state from the relevant departments. She will also lead today’s tributes. The news that Her Majesty was under medical supervision came through during a debate in the Commons.

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Cost of living plan

Before the news filtered through, Truss confirmed that a typical household will pay no more than £2,500 a year for energy bills until October 2024.

Under the plan to deal with soaring household bills the existing energy price cap will be replaced with an “energy price guarantee” with the government subsidising suppliers to cover the gap with wholesale prices from 1 October. All businesses and other non-domestic properties like schools or charities will have similar support for six months from October.

Starmer, who said Truss’s plan would saddle Britons with debt for years to come, questioned why the PM remained so opposed to a new windfall tax – arguing that his own party’s proposal for an expanded levy on producers would allow bills to be frozen at current levels.

During the Commons debate, it also emerged that the single biggest donation to Truss’s successful campaign for the Conservative leadership came from the wife of a former BP executive.

On the record

PM Liz Truss pays tribute to Her Majesty.

“Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign. Britain is the great country it is today because of her.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer also pays tribute.

“Our longest-serving and greatest-ever monarch. Above the clashes of politics, she stood not for what the nation fought over but what it agreed upon. In crisis, she reassured us. Reminding us that we are all part of something that stretches back through time. A symbol of the best of us.”

From the Twitterati

Daniel Finkelstein, Conservative peer and Times columnist, shares a family anecdote about the Queen.

“My grandmother, a refugee from Lwow (now Lviv) and political imprisonment, always used to say that “while the Queen is safe in Buckingham Palace, we are safe in Hendon Central”.

Essential reading

• Jennie Bond, The Independent: The Queen I knew
• Sean O’Grady, The Independent: The world is in mourning
• Tom Peck, The Independent: Britain has lost its one constant in an unending age of upheaval
• Sarah Bradford, Joe Sommerlad, The Independent: The longest-reigning monarch in British history