Prime Minister Liz Truss heckled during conference speech that warns of ‘stormy days’ ahead amid cabinet split
Liz Truss vowed to “get Britain through the tempest” and insisted “everyone will benefit” from the result of her economic policies in her keynote party conference speech during which she was heckled by climate activists.
Addressing Conservative members at the event in Birmingham, as she battles to save her premiership, the prime minister acknowledged that “these are stormy days”.
“In these tough times, we need to step up,” she continued.
“I am determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest and put us on a stronger footing as a nation.”
Liz Truss’s speech stopped by protest – Politics latest
She continued: “Whenever there is change there is disruption. Not everyone will be in favour but everyone will benefit from the result.”
Ms Truss was interrupted by two Greenpeace protesters who shouted: “Who voted for this,” as they held up a banner.
They were quickly removed by security in the conference hall.
In a tweet after the incident, Greenpeace said activists were there to “denounce the prime minister ‘shredding’ her party’s 2019 manifesto promises”.
The group added: “The PM is U-turning on fracking, strong climate action, and world-leading environmental protections. Who voted for this?”
Continuing, Ms Truss told the audience she and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng “will keep closely co-ordinating our monetary and fiscal policy” after the government’s tax-cutting mini-budget saw the pound slump to a record level.
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This is the moment two Greenpeace protesters interrupted Liz Truss’s Conservative Party conference speech, with a banner reading
‘Chancellor and I are in lockstep’
She promised “an iron grip on the nation’s finances” and vowed to break Britain out of a “high-tax, low-growth cycle”, adding: “The chancellor and I are in lockstep on this.”
Ms Truss said she is “working flat out” to make sure people can get through the economic crisis.
“So let me be clear: we have your back,” the PM added.
The Conservative leader said she and Mr Kwarteng U-turned on abolishing the 45p tax rate on top earners because it “became a distraction”.
“I get it and I have listened,” she told the audience.
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Liz Truss speech highlights
The tax cut for the wealthiest 1% was one of a raft announced by Mr Kwarteng in his mini-budget less than two weeks ago that led to market turmoil – with the pound plummeting, mortgage products being withdrawn, and the Bank of England having to step in to rescue pension funds.
On Tuesday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused Tory MPs of staging a “coup” against the PM over the 45p tax rate.
Fellow cabinet minister Simon Clarke also publicly disclosed his objection to the reversal of the policy.
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Prime Minister Liz Truss has promised ‘an iron grip on the nation’s finances’ and vowed to break Britain out of a ‘high-tax, low-growth cycle’, adding that she and Kwasi Kwarteng are ‘in lockstep on this’.
‘Growth, growth and growth’
Outlining her three priorities for Britain’s economy: “growth, growth and growth”, Ms Truss said she “will not allow the anti-growth coalition of Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP to hold us back”.
She accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of having “no long-term plan and no vision for Britain”.
Hinting at more “disruption”, the PM also promised that her government will always be “fiscally responsible”.
Ms Truss received applause for saying she is the first prime minister to have gone a comprehensive school.
Gordon Brown went to a state school which was selective but is now comprehensive, John Major went to a grammar school that is now a comprehensive and Theresa May went to a grammar school which became a comprehensive while she was there.
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Truss: ‘No shame’ over tax U-turn
‘I don’t want my song used as soundtrack to lies’
The prime minister walked onto the stage to M People’s ‘Moving on Up’.
But one member of the 90s dance band was not pleased with the song being used, posting on social media: “I don’t want my song being a soundtrack to lies.”
Labour also pointed out that Heather Small from M People has attended Labour dinners in the past and that her son is a recently elected Labour councillor.
The first standing ovation came when Ms Truss referenced the war in Ukraine, telling the audience of Tory members: “We will make sure this never happens again.”
But the speech, which was just over half an hour long, contained no new policy announcements and made no reference to benefits – which the PM is facing another split within her cabinet over.
On Tuesday, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt joined backbench rebels in calling for welfare payments to be raised in line with inflation, which has been at around 10%, rather than earnings at 5%.
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Do the public and cabinet still trust Truss?
‘Status quo not an option’
Two additional cabinet ministers have also told Sky News that they believe benefits should be uprated in line with inflation.
It is understood that Chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs Sir Graham Brady has warned Ms Truss that any attempt to uprate benefits by average earnings rather than by inflation is unlikely to get through Parliament.
But closing her first conference speech as PM, Ms Truss vowed to “stay the course” amid the infighting within the Conservative Party over her policy agenda.
She urged both Tory members and MPs to “trust me to do what it takes” to push through her “difficult but necessary” pro-growth agenda.
“The status quo is not an option. That is why we can’t give in to the voices of decline,” she said.
“We can’t give in to those who say Britain can’t grow faster. We can’t give in to those who say we can’t do better.”
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‘Reverse kamikaze budget’
Responding to the speech, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The most important thing the prime minister can do right now to stabilise the economy is to immediately reverse her government’s kamikaze budget when Parliament returns next week.”
While Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey described the address as a “disaster for families and the economy”.
Ms Truss exited the stage to applause and quickly left the conference venue.
The under-pressure pound fell against the US dollar following her speech.
World
Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners
A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.
The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.
Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.
It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.
The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.
Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.
Relatives of miners and community members wait at the mine shaft. Pic: AP
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.
An aerial view of a mineshaft. Pic: AP
Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.
In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.
Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.
Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.
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Relatives of miners and community members wait near the mine shaft. Pic: AP
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The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.
Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.
Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.
World
Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’
In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.
We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.
The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.
They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.
War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’
The captain known by his men as ‘Genius’
In the summer, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory, in Kursk
Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.
Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.
He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.
His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.
Captain Sasha Shyrshyn and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay
‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’
Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.
We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.
“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.
He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.
Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.
Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.
“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.
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‘The world is scared of Russia’
It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.
The disguised American Bradley vehicle hidden in the forest
Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.
A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.
He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.
“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”
The American Bradley fighting vehicle that Ukrainian soldiers have found vital in their efforts
Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.
Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.
If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.
US President-elect Donald Trump has been clear he intends to change his nation’s policy on the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.
“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”
Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.
He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.
“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.
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‘Losing will be not only our problem’
These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.
Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.
Barbed wire rolled out in the Sumy region ahead of expected fighting
Tank traps in the Sumy region
Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.
“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.
But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.
“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”
Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.
A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.
The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.
Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.
The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.
Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.
All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.
Pic: Jamie Marchant
Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.
Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.
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He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.
“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.
Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.
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The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.
Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.
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