Liz Truss will face her second Prime Minister’s Questions later before going on a charm offensive to get her own MPs back on side.
After facing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the despatch box at 12pm, the PM is expected to hold lunches with backbenchers and tour the tea rooms in parliament, before appearing in front of the Conservative 1922 Committee on Wednesday evening.
It comes after a chaotic start to Ms Truss’s premiership following the death of the Queen and a mini-budget that divided Tories, as well as sending the markets into turmoil.
The PM and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have already been forced into a U-turn on one of the many tax cutting policies within their plan – namely scrapping the 45p tax rate for the highest earners.
But with warnings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that the chancellor would have to cut spending or raise taxes by £62bn if he was to stabilise or reduce the national debt as promised, the rows in the party are far from over.
Many MPs, including some cabinet ministers, are publicly calling for the PM to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation to help the poorest during the cost of living crisis – though Number 10 says she has yet to make a decision.
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And one Tory former minister, Stephen Hammond, said she should delay the planned cut to corporation tax to ensure there aren’t savage slashes to public services, like the NHS and education.
But Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey tried to calm fears, saying she was “confident” of “increasing investment in public sector services – but making sure that we do that carefully with taxpayers money whilst we also stimulate the economy to grow”.
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How can UK reduce debt?
There is also upset from some MPs in rural areas over Ms Truss’ plan to ban solar projects from farms, with the Conservative Environment Network saying it is “disproportionate” and risks being “damaging to investor confidence in an energy crisis”.
Scrapping EU laws protecting the environment, creating the government’s proposed investment zones in national parks and lifting the ban on fracking are also bitterly opposed by the green lobby.
A government spokesperson insisted to Sky News that they were “empowering local places to deliver plans that are right for their area”.
Labour is also attacking the government over reports it could scrap its plan to end no-fault evictions – a pledge made in the 2019 Conservative manifesto to stop landlords kicking tenants out without giving a reason.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said “no decisions have been taken on any further policies” but the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was looking at the issue.
He added: “Clearly, ensuring a fair deal for renters will always remain a priority for this government.”
But shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Millions of people are only a few weeks from losing their home through no fault of their own.
“The Tories promised to stop this in their election manifesto and the Queen’s Speech. It would be shameful to break this promise.”
A 76-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of administering poison at a summer camp which led to eight children being taken to hospital, police said.
Police received reports of children feeling unwell at a summer camp in Canal Lane, Stathern, Leicestershire, on Monday.
Paramedics assessed eight children, who were taken to hospital as a precaution and have all now been discharged.
The suspect was arrested at the camp and remains in custody on suspicion of administering poison with intent to injure/aggrieve/annoy.
Detective Inspector Neil Holden said: “We understand the concern this incident will have caused to parents, guardians and the surrounding community.
“We are in contact with the parents and guardians of all children concerned.
“Please be reassured that we have several dedicated resources deployed and are working with partner agencies including children’s services to ensure full safeguarding is provided to the children involved.
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“We also remain at the scene to carry out enquiries into the circumstances of what has happened and to continue to provide advice and support in the area.
“This is a complex and sensitive investigation and we will continue to provide updates to both parents and guardians and the public as and when we can.”
The force said it has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over what it said was the “circumstances of the initial police response”.
There is no evidence that malign activity was responsible for yesterday’s outage of air traffic control systems, the transport secretary has said.
Heidi Alexander said she has spoken with the chief executive of National Air Traffic Service (NATS), Martin Rolfe, and added that what happened was an isolated incident.
NATS has apologised for the IT problems after thousands of passengers suffered extensive travel disruption during one of the busiest times of the year.
The technical glitch led to more than 150 flight cancellations, leaving airlines reacting furiously.
Image: Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander
Ms Alexander wrote on X: “I have spoken with NATS CEO Martin Rolfe who provided further detail on yesterday’s technical fault.
“This was an isolated event and there is no evidence of malign activity.
“I know that any disruption is frustrating for passengers.
“Flights are now resumed and I am grateful to airlines who are working hard to get people to where they need to be.
“I will continue to receive regular updates. Passengers should check with airlines before travelling.”
Officials said a “radar-related issue” caused the air traffic control failure.
A spokesperson for NATS said: “This was a radar-related issue which was resolved by quickly switching to the back-up system during which time we reduced traffic to ensure safety.
“There is no evidence that this was cyber related.”
The problem occurred at NATS’ control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, and affected the vast majority of England and Wales.
Aviation analytics company Cirium said 84 departures and 71 arrivals were cancelled to or from UK airports up to 10pm on Wednesday, with several flights diverted to other European airports.
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Travel expert Paul Charles: This is a major outage
There was limited disruption on Thursday, with a handful of British Airways flights cancelled because aircraft and crew were out of position.
Heathrow and Gatwick airports said they had resumed normal operations.
Affected passengers are unlikely to be entitled to compensation as the disruption was outside of airlines’ control, but they will be able to claim expenses for a reasonable amount of food and drink, a means to communicate and overnight accommodation if required.
Image: Martin Rolfe in 2023. Pic: PA
Ryanair has called on Mr Rolfe to resign, claiming “no lessons have been learnt” since a similar systems outage in August 2023.
The airline’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon said: “It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement of Nats.”
Airlines have reacted furiously after a technical glitch in air traffic control systems led to more than 150 flight cancellations.
The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) has apologised for the IT problems – and said systems were back up and running 20 minutes after the “radar-related issue” was detected at 4.05pm.
But with thousands of passengers suffering extensive travel disruption, during one of the busiest times of the year, airline executives have warned this isn’t good enough.
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Departures resume after ATC problem
Ryanair’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon has called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign – and claimed Wednesday’s incident was “utterly unacceptable”.
He said: “It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement of NATS.
“It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 NATS system outage, and passengers continue to suffer as a result of Martin Rolfe’s incompetence.”
Mr McMahon was referring to a glitch that affected more than 700,000 passengers two years ago – and said that, if Mr Rolfe refuses to step down, the government should intervene.
“Heidi Alexander must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of NATS’ shambolic ATC service, so that airlines and passengers are no longer forced to endure these preventable delays caused by persistent NATS failures,” he added.
The Department for Transport says Ms Alexander does not have any direct control over NATS – and no powers over staffing decisions at the service.
Image: Martin Rolfe in 2023. Pic: PA
EasyJet’s chief operating officer David Morgan added: “It’s extremely disappointing to see an ATC failure once again causing disruption to our customers at this busy and important time of year for travel.
“While our priority today is supporting our customers, we will want to understand from NATS what steps they are taking to ensure issues don’t continue.”
NATS is yet to comment on the calls for Mr Rolfe’s resignation – but has stressed that the glitch is not believed to be “cyber related”.
“This was a radar-related issue which was resolved by quickly switching to the back-up system during which time we reduced traffic to ensure safety,” a spokesperson had said.
Departures at airports across the country have now resumed – but passengers are being urged to check with their airline before heading to terminals.
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Travel expert: This is a major outage
John Carr, from Stourbridge, was on his way from Heathrow to Norway to help arrange his brother’s wedding when he discovered his flight was cancelled after checking in.
“I’m pretty gutted,” he said. “We’ve got loads of stuff in the suitcases to set up the venue, because we’re obviously flying to Norway. We’ve got the wedding rehearsal to do. It’s quite stressful.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for an urgent investigation and also referred to the “utterly unacceptable” disruption two years earlier.
“With thousands of families preparing to go on a well-earned break, this just isn’t good enough. The public deserve to have full confidence in such a vital piece of national infrastructure.”
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Airlines may have to provide compensation, although there are exemptions for “extraordinary circumstances”, according to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.