Prime Minister Liz Truss has unveiled one of the UK’s most diverse Cabinets, with key frontline posts going to ethnic minority members of Parliament, including Indian-origin Suella Braverman as the Home Secretary. The process of appointing the Cabinet will continue into Wednesday, when Truss addresses her first Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons.
By her side on the frontbenches will be Braverman, 42, whose Tamil mother had her family roots in Mauritius and Goan-origin father migrated to the UK from Kenya. Also, by her side will be Ghanian-origin Kwasi Kwarteng, 47, as the UK’s first black Chancellor and mixed Sierra Leone and white heritage James Cleverly as the Foreign Secretary, Truss’ own former portfolio.
The senior Conservative MPs who had come out in support of former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership election are conspicuous by their absence in Truss’s top team, which she has packed with close allies, such as Therese Coffey as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Wendy Morton as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and the first Tory female Chief Whip in charge of party discipline.
Another Indian-origin minister in the Cabinet is the 55-year-old Alok Sharma, who retains his climate action job as COP26 President, as does Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Iraqi-origin Nadhim Zahawi, 55, has been appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Equalities, Brandon Lewis is the new Justice Secretary, and Penny Mordaunt is the Leader of the Commons.We have huge reserves of talent, of energy, and determination, Truss, 47, said in her inaugural address outside 10 Downing Street earlier on Tuesday.
I am confident that together we can: ride out the storm, we can rebuild our economy, and we can become the modern brilliant Britain that I know we can be. This is our vital mission to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations. I am determined to deliver, she .
Truss travelled to Queen Elizabeth II’s Balmoral Castle residence in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Tuesday to meet the 96-year-old monarch, who asked her to form a new government.
Truss has said that she is honoured to take on the responsibility at a vital time for the country.
The new prime minister said her government will “transform Britain into an aspiration nation with high paying jobs, safe streets and where everyone everywhere has the opportunities they deserve.”
Liz Truss will unveil the first major political action of her premiership tomorrow as she unveils plans to stop energy bills rising for millions of Britons.
The Prime Minister is expected to unveil a new package worth around £150bn in the morning that will cap payments and, she hopes, avoid the economy plunging off an inflationary cliff.
Economists are forecasting that if energy bills are capped at £2,500 as predicted under the support package, then inflation will now peak at 10 per cent or lower in the fourth quarter of 2022. Previous warnings suggested it could soar to more than 13 per cent in October.Including a £400 handout already in place, the cap would effectively wipe out the massive hike that is slated to take effect next month.
Alarm has been raised in some quarters that this will simply be added to the UK's debt mountain, with markets already responding by increasing interest payments.
However, giving evidence to MPs this morning, Bank of England chiefs made clear that failing to act could deepen the problems.
Chief economic Huw Pill said predictions that CPI inflation could hit an eye-watering 22 per cent were 'plausible', saying it was simply a 'mechanical' consequence of surging gas prices amid the standoff with Russia.
He suggested that a bailout would reduce inflation, saying: 'Net-net on the implications for headline inflation in the short term, I would expect that to see a decline.
But in her first PMQs clashes with Keir Starmer the new PM warned the plans would only a 'sticking plaster' without wider economic reforms.
The premier crossed swords with the Labour leader over the cost-of-living crisis in the Commons the day after she was installed in Downing Street.
She batted away pressure from Sir Keir for a bigger windfall tax on companies - but insisted she would not leave Britons and businesses to suffer the fallout from the standoff with Russia. She confirmed she would be unveiling a new package tomorrow.
'I will make sure that in our energy plan we will help to support businesses and people with the immediate price crisis, as well as making sure there are long-term supplies available,' she told MPs. She also met met the parliamentary party at the 1922 Committee this afternoon.
The exchanges came after Ms Truss gathered her new loyalist Cabinet to finalise plans for an energy bill freeze - and the Bank of England delivered a stark warning that inflation could hit 22 per cent without action.The PM has plunged straight into tackling the burgeoning crisis, forming a fresh top team stacked with her leadership backers and purged of Rishi Sunak's supporters.
A package to limit energy bills that could cost the taxpayer £150billion is being thrashed out, limiting typical household payments to £2,500 a year.
Bank governor Andrew Bailey declined to be drawn on the impact of Ms Truss's plans on borrowing costs and inflation. He said the focus was on 'policy being laid out properly' after the Tory leadership contest.
After offering token congratulations to Ms Truss in the House, Sir Keir asked: 'When she said in her leadership campaign that she was against windfall taxes, did she mean it?'
Ms Truss replied: 'I am against a windfall tax. I believe it is the wrong thing to be putting companies off investing in the United Kingdom just when we need to be growing the economy.'
Sir Keir said the reality was that 'energy producers will make £170bn in excess profits over the next two years'.
He added: 'The Prime Minister knows she has now choice but to back an energy price freeze, but it won't be cheap and the real choice, the political choice is who is going to pay.
'Is she really telling us that she is going to leave this vast excess profits on the table and make working people foot the bill for decades to come?'
Ms Truss said she understood people were 'struggling with the cost of living' and energy bills, adding: 'That is why I as Prime Minister will take immediate action to help people with the cost of their energy bills and I will be making an announcement to this House on that tomorrow.'
The premier added she would reform the UK's overall energy mix by building more nuclear power stations and exploring more fossil fuel supplies in the North Sea.
She added: 'The reality is that this country will not be able to tax its way to growth.
'The way we will grow our economy is by attracting investment, keeping taxes low, delivering the reforms to build projects quicker.
'That is the way that we will create jobs and opportunities across our country.'
She said: 'And if taxes are put up and raised to the same level as France, which is what the current proposal is, and which I will change as Prime Minister, that will put off investors.
'It will put off those companies investing in our economy and ultimately that will mean fewer jobs, less growth and less opportunities across our country.'
Meanwhile, incoming Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has met bankers and investors to reassure them that although borrowing will rise 'in the short term', he is committed to the economy growing faster than debt.