The shadow home secretary said comments by Tory leadership star Liz Truss that British workers needed “more graft” were an “absolute disgrace”. Yvette Cooper told Sky News: I think it reveals what he really thinks. This comes after his proposal to cut public sector wages in the north and other parts of the country. So teaching assistants or nurses here in Yorkshire would be paid less than people in London or the South East. Cooper also accused Liz Truss of being out of touch. He said: (He has absolutely no idea that people work incredibly hard – people who are getting up to go to their shifts right now, watching your show just before going to work, working incredibly hard to make ends meet, facing these nightmares inflation numbers, rising energy bills and the struggles they put into keeping everything together. This insult just shows, I think, that [Truss] he doesn’t understand workers across the country. It is deeply wrong of her to say this. Welcome to today’s political liveblog. I’ll be covering Andrew Sparrow today. Drop me a line if you have any questions or think I missed something. My email is [email protected] and I’m @Nicola_Slawson on Twitter. On the agenda today is the eighth leadership change of the Conservative party. This time Truss and Rishi Sunak will be answering questions in Belfast at 1pm. Updated at 09.59 BST Important events BETA filters Key Facts (4) Liz Truss (7) Sajid Javid (3) On Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze the energy price cap, former Conservative cabinet minister Sajid Javid said: “I don’t think his numbers add up at all.” He told Sky News: When you’re in opposition, you’re never going to be held accountable for what you say, so you say what sounds good. I heard what Keir Starmer had to say yesterday, I don’t think his numbers add up at all. He added: She is [Liz Truss] He is thinking very carefully about commitments, right, and he has made some firm commitments, but one of them is clearly that this emergency budget, as I say, will be done within weeks and further action will be taken. Nothing has been taken off the table because he recognizes as I do and as I think most politicians do, is that this is a very, very serious crisis for families at home. They would have looked at that inflation number today and while it may not have been a shock because of what the Bank of England has said recently, that doesn’t make it any less palpable to anyone. People will be worried and Liz will be the right person to deal with it. Asked if the support would be general or targeted, he added: I think you don’t have to choose between the two… What he said with the tax cuts, of course it will benefit everyone, but looking at whether targeted action can be taken, I’m sure it will be taken into account when it comes to the emergency budget. Updated at 10.01 BST The cost of living crisis is of particular concern to pensioners who “won’t be able to earn more money”, former finance minister John Glenn said. He told the BBC: It is obviously a very important concern for those on a fixed income. And my main concern is how we will support the most vulnerable, particularly pensioners who will not be able to earn more money. Amid such concerns, he accused Conservative leadership candidate Liz Truss of causing “confusion”. He told the BBC: We need to find out what Liz Truss is going to do because what we’ve heard so far is a lot of confusion, frankly, not a tendency to do other handouts, lots of tax cuts that won’t affect pensioners but will have a significant impact if they’re not funded in the economy and inflationary pressures.
Sajid Javid: “We need to cut taxes to regulate the economy”
Julia Kollewe Sajid Javid, a former chancellor and supporter of Liz Truss, the front-runner to become the next prime minister, said he was not shocked by the figures because we had recently heard the Bank of England’s forecast. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: It underlines the need to move forward with a credible economic plan that naturally addresses inflation and the cost of living challenges which are huge but also a long-term growth plan and that is one of the main reasons why I support Liz Truss. He said it’s a global problem, but things can be done at home, like giving people the “right kind of support,” for example with energy bills, like tax cuts, Truss hinted. There will be an emergency budget within weeks of her taking office if she is the new prime minister and that will be an absolute priority. Asked if there would be more handouts to people to help them cope with the cost of living crisis, he said: He has also made it clear that nothing is off the table. He does need immediate action and he recognizes it. Javid pointed out: Our long-term rate, what is called the trend growth rate, has not recovered since the global financial crisis and we need to do a lot more. We cannot tax our way to growth with tax levels almost at their highest in 70 years. We need to address this and cut taxes to make further supply-side reforms to get the economy back on track. Updated at 10.01 BST
UK inflation hits 10.1% as food and fuel prices rise
Richard Partington Inflation in the UK rose above 10% for the first time in 40 years as food and fuel prices soared as households came under increasing pressure from the cost of living crisis. The Office for National Statistics said the consumer price index rose 10.1% in the year to July, up from 9.4% in June and entered double figures earlier than expected. The rate was last higher in February 1982. The measure beat City economists’ forecast of 9.8% as food and drink costs rose at their fastest pace since 2008 amid a burst of broad-based inflation across the economy. The biggest increases were for bread and cereals, dairy, meat and vegetables, with rising food costs leading to record increases for restaurant and hotel prices and pushing up the cost of takeaways. Price hikes for other staples such as pet food, toilet roll, toothbrushes and deodorant also sent inflation skyrocketing. Prices of package holidays and airfares have risen sharply, with the summer rush reflected in packed airports across the country. The latest figures will pile renewed pressure on the government and Conservative leadership candidates amid accusations that the front-runner, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, are failing to understand the scale of emergency living costs. Read the full story here: The business desk is running a live blog on this topic today. You can follow along here: If you haven’t heard it yet, here’s a recording of Liz Truss talking about British workers. The comments were made when Tras was the general secretary of the Ministry of Finance, a position she held until 2019. In the recording he argued that there seemed little desire to change the work culture to make the UK more prosperous and suggested that British workers lacked the “skill and application” of foreign rivals. British workers need ‘more graft’, Liz Truss says in leaked recording You can read more about this story from my colleague Pippa Crerar here:
Javid: ‘British workers among the hardest working in the world’
British workers “are some of the hardest working in the world”, said former Conservative cabinet minister Sajid Javid. Asked about Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss’ claim that British workers need to produce “more graft”, she told Sky News: This comment, as I understand it, was made several years ago. I don’t know the exact context in which it was made. What I also heard her say, just in that quote you played there, was that productivity in the UK compared to other comparable countries is generally lower and that’s a long-standing problem in the UK and that’s not because British workers not working hard? British workers are some of the hardest working in the world. He added: I think what he’s talking about is business and investment, because to increase productivity the government of course has a huge role to play – there’s capital investment, things like infrastructure investment, for example, those sectors that get more of it in general of course they can do better in terms of productivity. It’s also about investing in skills and making sure we invest in skills across the country, not just in the capital or the South East but right across the country, and that’s going to make a difference, and Liz has a plan for that. Updated at 09.44 BST
Labor says Liz Truss comments about British workers ‘absolute disgrace’
Nicola Slawson The shadow home secretary said comments by Tory leadership star Liz Truss that British workers needed “more graft” were an “absolute disgrace”. Yvette Cooper told Sky News: I think it reveals what he really thinks. This comes after his proposal to cut public sector wages in the north and other parts of the country. So teaching assistants or nurses here in Yorkshire would be paid less than people in London or the South East. Cooper also accused Liz Truss of being out of touch. He said: (He has absolutely no idea that people work incredibly hard – people who are getting up to go to their shifts right now, watching your show just before going to work, working incredibly hard to make ends meet, facing these nightmares inflation numbers, rising energy bills and the struggles they put into keeping everything together. This insult just shows, I think, that [Truss] he doesn’t understand workers across the country. It is deeply wrong of her to say this. Welcome to today’s political liveblog. I’ll be covering Andrew Sparrow today. Drop me a line…
