Inside Politics: More pitch rolling

Rishi Sunak suggests he has no choice but to raise taxes and cut spending ahead of G20 summit, writes Matt Mathers

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

Matt Hancock has finally won a leadership contest - that’s one more than his boss, Rishi Sunak.

Inside the bubble

Commons action gets underway at 2.30pm with Home Office questions. After that comes any urgent questions or statements, followed by two general debates: one on the Aussie and New Zealand trade deals, and one on Ukraine.

Daily briefing

Rolling the pitch to death

Sunak heads to Indonesia today for his second big outing on the world stage at the G20 summit, where he will call out Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and urge other leaders to help end the West’s dependency on Russia for energy.

As the prime minister hobnobs with his opposite numbers thousands of miles away in Bali, his mind will remain firmly fixed on the autumn statement to be delivered by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, on Thursday. For those of you hoping for some good news as we fast approach the lead-up to Christmas – look away now. Hunt and Sunak have essentially spent their entire respective periods in office ‘rolling the pitch’ for the bleak news ahead and there was more from the chancellor yesterday in his Sunday interviews.

Hunt warned that everybody would have to pay higher taxes as he and Sunak seek to repair the damage inflicted on the economy by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and Liz Truss’s failed experiment on the public. There was more last night, with Sunak telling journalists on the plane to Bali that he has no other choice than to increase the burden and implement spending cuts to avoid another market meltdown.

Market reaction will have informed most of what Sunak and Hunt have been doing over the past few weeks. But what about one of the other key audiences they need to satisfy – Tory backbenchers?

The grumbling is already underway, with some on the right of the party warning Downing Street is at risk of overcorrecting Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget by going too far with tax hikes and spending cuts, which they believe could send the country deeper into recession. The CBI, meanwhile, has warned that business will go into “hibernation” if tax rises in the statement are not matched with moves to relax rules on immigration, planning and regulations.

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Small boats

Within the past hour, the UK has announced a deal with France to step up action on Channel crossings as the number of migrants and asylum seekers making the treacherous journey hit record levels.

UK officials will join operations in France for the first time to halt unauthorised boats, in a deal worth around £63m. Sunak said the deal – finalised earlier by home secretary Suella Braverman and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin – would be “a foundation” for more co-operation in coming months.

Speaking to reporters travelling with him to the G20 summit in Indonesia, Sunak said it was his “absolute priority” to get a grip on the small boats issue, which had occupied more of his time since becoming PM last month than anything apart from the economy.

He acknowledged there was no single solution to the problem, which would not be “fixed overnight”. But he said he was “confident” of bringing down numbers of migrants arriving on the Kent coast.

On the record

A spokesperson for justice secretary Dominic Raab responds to claims he behaved aggressively towards staff.

“Dominic has high standards, works hard, and expects a lot from his team as well as himself. He has worked well with officials to drive the government’s agenda across Whitehall in multiple government departments and always acts with the utmost professionalism.”

From the Twitterati

Times Radio’s Matt Chorley jokes about Hancock in the jungle.

“Not the first time Matt Hancock’s said: ‘Who wants a bone?’”

Essential reading

• John Rentoul, The Indpendent: Rishi Sunak has a chance to prove himself in this week’s mini-Budget
• Peter Smith, The Independent: I went undercover on ConservativeHome – this is what happened
• Hamish McRae, The Independent: Why has so much wealth been destroyed?
• Ben Rhodes, The Atlantic: Taiwan prepares to be invaded

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