Liz Truss resigned in the wake of economic turmoil (Image: Getty)
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride will attempt to draw a line under the turmoil unleashed by Liz Truss’s 2022 mini-Budget in a major speech this morning.
Sir Keir Starmer hammers the Conservatives for the legacy of the chaos on Ms Truss’s watch, which is widely blamed for painful hikes in interest rates. Mr Stride will attempt to win back the trust of voters on the economy as the Tories fight to escape their third-place position in many polls.
He will acknowledge the damage to the economy and the party’s reputation, saying: “For a few weeks, we put at risk the very stability which Conservatives had always said must be carefully protected. The credibility of the UK’s economic framework was undermined by spending billions on subsidising energy bills, and tax cuts, with no proper plan for how this would be paid for.”
Mr Stride will acknowledge “damage to our credibility” is not “easily undone,” adding: “That will take time. And it also requires contrition.”
Insisting that the upheavals of the past will not return, he will say: “So let me be clear: Never again will the Conservative Party undermine fiscal credibility by making promises we cannot afford.”
Mr Stride will argue the 2022 crisis was “in part born of exasperation with the failure of successive governments to put us on a path back to sustained growth and rising living standards”.
“Many feel that the system only works for the benefit of others, for large corporations, or people from other countries, but not for them and their families,” he will say. “We must accept that for too long governments of both colours have failed to free us from this malaise.
“For our party to find a path back to regaining trust, we must show that we are serious about listening to people and creating a better future underpinned by a credible plan.”
The Shadow Chancellor will also use his speech to fire a shot at Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, declaring: “Their economic prescription is pure populism. It doubles down on the ‘magic money tree’ we thought had been banished with Jeremy Corbyn.
“They would plough ahead with huge additional welfare spending, as well as tax cuts, with no plan for how to pay for any of it. We must be radical in our prospectus, but that must be grounded in the principles of stability and responsibility.”
Looking ahead to next week’s spending review, he state: “By borrowing hundreds of billions more than the plans she inherited and pushing up the rates we pay on that borrowing, Rachel Reeves has added nearly £80bn to our expected debt interest bill over the course of this parliament. At the spending review next week, we can expect her to trumpet all of the additional projects and programmes she is funding – without mentioning the fact it is all being paid for from borrowing.”
“We will need to take our time if we are to forge a credible plan that delivers for the people of our country. Over the next four years our party will do just that.”
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice rejected Mr Stride’s criticism, saying: “We’ll take no lectures on economics from a party that more than doubled the national debt, raised taxes and government spending to 70-year highs and shrank economic growth to 70-year lows… They can never be trusted again.”
Top Tory set to take on Reform and Labour in major economy speech
Mel Stride is set to deliver a keynote speech on the economy today (Image: Getty)
Conservative Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride will deliver a major speech on the economy today, as he seeks to draw a line under the damage inflicted on his party by Liz Truss.
Mr Stride will aim to win back voters trust on the economy, with polls showing that despite everything the Tories remain the most credible party on the key issue with voters.
He is set to acknowledge the damage done by Ms Truss, but also take aim at Nigel Farage and Reform UK, who he will compare with Jeremy Corbyn when it comes to spending promises.
Mr Stride will say: “When other parties are descending into a race to the bottom on economic credibility and responsibility, the Conservative Party is needed now perhaps more than ever. But to win that fight we will need thoughtfulness.”
Follow our live blog below for all the latest updates:
Conservatives ‘must admit we made mistakes’
The Conservatives have to “put our hands up” to the mistakes of the past, the shadow chancellor has suggested.
Before a speech on Thursday in which he will say the party are looking to “regain trust” following Liz Truss’s mini-budget, Sir Mel Stride told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have clearly made mistakes in the past and we have to be honest and put our hands up to that.
“That is part of moving on from that, having learned the lessons, having listened and now coming forward with a very clear plan that we’ll be working up over the coming months and indeed years as to how we radically rewire our economy in a way that works far more effectively”.
Tories to consider withdrawing from European Convention on Human Rights
Kemi Badenoch is expected to set up a review that will look into whether the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
The commission will examine whether Britain should pull out of a series of agreements, it is understood.
It comes ahead of a speech Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch is expected to make on Friday.
Nigel Farage says burqa ban ‘is a debate’
To add to the confusion, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has suggested his party could back a ban on face coverings, but attempted to move the debate away from burqas and on to violent protestors.
It means Reform now has three different positions on the issue, after MP Sarah Pochin called specifically for a burqa ban and party chair Zia Yusuf said Reform “wouldn’t do” this.
Mr Farage told GB News: “I was in Aberdeen Monday, there was a mob there to meet me, an organisation called Antifa, and half of them had complete face coverings on so they would be unidentifiable.
“I don’t think face coverings in public places make sense, and I think we do deserve debate about that, which I see the burqa as being a part.”
He went on to say: “Certainly, I think masked protesters who can turn up and demonstrate and, in some cases use violence, should not be able to get away with it.”
It comes after new Reform MP Sarah Pochin urged the Prime Minister to “ban the burqa” on Wednesday.
Reform chair Zia Yusuf responded by saying it “wasn’t policy” and said: “I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.”
Trouble brewing for Reform UK?
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf branded a question from one of his own MPs “dumb” as the row over a burqa ban intensified.
Asked if he was responsible for the policy, he said in a post on X: “Nothing to do with me.
“Had no idea about the question nor that it wasn’t policy. Busy with other stuff.
“I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.”
Education Secretary defends free school meal extension
Bridget Phillipson has said that ministers are “working as quickly as we can” on plans to extend free school meals, which will not come into force until September 2026.
Asked why the expansion was not coming into force now, the Education Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “We’re working as quickly as we can because we do appreciate the urgency, but we also need to work with schools to make this change happen.”
Top Tory hints the party could consider banning the burqa
Top Tory Mel Stride hinted the Conservatives could consider banning the burqa.
He told GB News: “We didn’t have banning the burqa in our last manifesto.
“We do feel, however, that in certain circumstances the police, if they need to be able to identify somebody facially, should be able to have somebody remove that particular facial covering.
“But clearly this, and all sorts of issues, are things we will think about over the coming years as we embark on our policy renewal programme.”
New French patrol vessels also set to be introduced
France will also introduce six new patrol boats that will intercept the “taxi-boats” and rescue migrants.
Paris has refused to allow their police officers to intercept migrants in the water because they fear it could put lies at risk.
A French interior ministry source said: “We are aware of the high stakes involved in interventions at sea and of the need to adapt our doctrine of action.
“Today, our intervention can only take place to rescue a boat already at sea, in particular because of the criminal liability issues associated with any interception carried out for any other reason.
“We would like to change this framework so that we can operate in shallow waters, up to 300 metres from the coast, and thus intercept ‘taxi boats’, while respecting the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as the Montego Bay Convention.
“The Interministerial Committee for Immigration Control (CiCI) has mandated the General Secretariat for the Sea (SGMer), which co-ordinates the State’s action at sea, to draw up a proposal by the summer to change this.”
A key breakthrough in the Channel migrant crisis?
France will come up with a plan within the next six weeks to intercept Channel migrant boats in the water, it emerged tonight.
After years of criticism over their inaction, French interior ministry sources suggested they will target boats within 300 metres of the beaches.
This, they hope, will prevent people smugglers from using so-called taxi boats to pick up migrants waiting in the water.
French President Emmanuel Macron is said to want the strategy to be ready for the Franco-British on July 8, when he will meet Sir Keir Starmer in London.
Conservatives will ‘take our time’ to draw up realistic economic policies
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride will say today that the two “core priorities” for the Conservative party will be “stability and fiscal responsibility”, with control of spending and reform of welfare and public services.
He will add: “And a bold rewiring of the British economy – to unleash growth, productivity, and opportunity across the country.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said that the comeback she anticipates for the party will take time as it seeks to avoid “rushing” into policy commitments.
Mr Stride will insist modern politics requires more “thoughtfulness”, with the Conservatives planning to spend the next four years forging a “credible” plan to return to government.
“We will need to take our time if we are to forge a credible plan that delivers for the people of our country,” he will say.
“Over the next four years, our party will do just that.”
Tories accuse Nigel Farage of believing in ‘magic money tree’
Attacking Nigel Farage’s Reform party after its gains in the local elections last month, shadow chancellor Mel Stride will say: “Take Reform. Their economic prescription is pure populism. It doubles down on the ‘magic money tree’ we thought had been banished with Jeremy Corbyn.”
This follows Reform leader Nigel Farage’s promise to cut income tax, restore the winter fuel allowance to every pensioner and end the two-child benefits cap.
Mel Stride slams Rachel Reeves ahead of spending review
Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spending review next week, her Conservative opposite number Mel Stride will accuse her of “abandoning” financial responsibility.
Ms Reeves has two self-imposed “fiscal rules” – funding day-to-day spending through taxation and for debt, measured by the benchmark of “public sector net financial liabilities” (PSNFL), to be falling as a share of GDP.
She has insisted these constraints are “non-negotiable” amid wrangles with Cabinet colleagues over departmental budgets ahead of next week’s announcement.
Mr Stride will say: “At the spending review next week, we can expect her to trumpet all of the additional projects and programmes she is funding – without mentioning the fact it is all being paid for from borrowing.”
Furious Liz Truss hits back
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss launched a furious response against her Tory colleagues and accused Mel Stride of having “kowtowed to the failed Treasury orthodoxy” and being “set on undermining my plan for growth”.
Tories admit Liz Truss damaged trust in their ability to run economy
Taking aim at both Labour and Reform UK, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride will accuse Chancellor Rachel Reeves of “fiddling the figures” by changing her definition of national debt, and warn that “populism is not the answer”.
Addressing the legacy of the 2022 mini-budget under Ms Truss’s premiership, which spooked the financial markets and led to a spike in mortgage rates, Mr Stride will say: “For a few weeks, we put at risk the very stability which Conservatives had always said must be carefully protected.
“The credibility of the UK’s economic framework was undermined by spending billions on subsidising energy bills and tax cuts, with no proper plan for how this would be paid for.”
Conservative Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride to set out economy plans
The shadow chancellor will say a “bold rewiring” of the economy is needed as part of Tory efforts to “regain trust” following the fallout from Liz Truss’ mini-budget.
In a speech today, Mel Stride is expected to promise the Conservatives will “never again” make offers they cannot afford as the party seeks to forge a “credible” financial plan for the future.
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