Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warns ‘nothing off table’ on tax cuts as senior Tory says government behaving like ‘libertarian jihadists’
A senior Tory has accused the government of looking “like libertarian jihadists” and treating the country as “laboratory mice” over the past few weeks.
Robert Halfon, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and an education minister under Theresa May, said he believes Liz Truss needs to apologise to the public for the economic turmoil caused by the mini-budget three weeks ago.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I worry that over the past few weeks the government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country as laboratory mice on which to carry out an ultra-free market experiment.
“There’s been one horror story after another.”
Cut to basic rate of income tax could be delayed – follow live politics updates
He added that the public is “frightened” about what is happening to the economy and said the prime minister needs to set out a “real vision” for the future of Britain.
Mr Halfon, who now chairs the education select committee, said he “welcomed” some of the comments made by Jeremy Hunt on his first day as the new chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked on Friday.
Ahead of Mr Kwarteng’s sacking, Mr Halfon accused Ms Truss of trashing “the last 10 years” of Conservative government during a meeting of backbench Tory MPs she was addressing.
He told the prime minister the mini-budget disproportionately benefited the wealthy and meant she had abandoned “workers’ conservatism”, The Times reported.
Sir Charles Bean, former deputy at the Bank of England, rubbished the government’s claim the recent market turmoil was due to a “global phenomenon”.
He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday it was “disingenuous” to say it is entirely due to global events and said the UK economy was similar to Germany, but now looks “more like Italy and Greece”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Former BoE dept on UK economy
Is defence spending pledge off the books?
Andrew Griffith, financial secretary to the Treasury, hinted Ms Truss may abandon her campaign pledges, including a promise to lift defence spending from 2% to 3% by the end of the decade.
Asked specifically about committing to an increase in defence spending, he told Sophy Ridge: “There are no commitments, I’m afraid, that I can make at 9am on a Sunday morning because we’re going into a process.
“I think in fairness, you’d be the first to say ‘why would you be making decisions without taking those into full consideration and without, of course, involving the OBR’, which is something that I think all of us have said that with hindsight would have been nicer to do.”
Read more:
Hunt warns of difficult decisions ahead on spending and tax
Joe Biden labels Liz Truss’ economic plan a ‘mistake’ – and hints others think so too
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Treasury minister on defence spending
Leading defence think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, calculated increasing defence spending to 3% of national income by 2030 would mean more than 40,000 extra military personnel and an extra £157 billion in spending.
But if that commitment is ditched, highly respected Defence Secretary Ben Wallace would likely resign, Sky News defence and security editor Deborah Haynes said.
Asked whether any backtracking on defence spending goals would be a resigning issue, a defence source said Mr Wallace would hold the prime minister to the pledges made.
That commitment appears to be in the balance after Mr Hunt this weekend repeatedly said he will ask all government departments to find “efficiency savings”.
Pic: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
‘Not taking anything off the table’
In his latest comments, Mr Hunt told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’m going to be asking every government department to find further efficiency savings.
“I’m not taking anything off the table, I want to keep as many of those tax cuts as I possibly can, because our long-term health depends on being a low-tax economy. And I strongly believe that.”
Click to subscribe to the Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast
Mr Hunt added that he does not think the future will be “anything like” the former period of austerity under David Cameron and George Osborne.
Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said the last three weeks of Conservative Party action has been a “disgrace” and an “embarrassment”.
“I think every time Conservative ministers come on and pretend somehow that this isn’t their responsibility, confidence falls further,” he told Sky News.
“Who is in charge of this government? What are this government’s policies? I don’t know the answer to those questions.”
A woman who accused Conor McGregor of raping her has said “justice has been served” after she won her civil case against the Irish mixed martial arts fighter.
Nikita Hand has been awarded €248,603 (£206,000) in damages after a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
McGregor, 36, made no comment as he swiftly left court following the decision on Friday evening.
He had previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel in December 2018.
Speaking outside court after the decision, an emotional Ms Hand said the weeks of her civil case against the fighter have been a “nightmare” and has impacted not only her life but her daughter’s, friends and loved ones.
“I would like to start off by saying I’m overwhelmed and touched by the support I have received from everybody,” the mother-of-one said.
Ms Hand said the civil case had been a ‘nightmare’. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
“It’s something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
“Now that justice has been served, I can now try and move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.”
Addressing other victims of sexual assault, Ms Hand continued: “I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be: Speak up, you have a voice and keep on fighting for justice.
“You can stand up for yourself if something happens to you – no matter who the person is – and justice will be served.”
McGregor and partner Dee Devlin leave the High Court. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA
Ms Hand told the court McGregor pinned her to a bed, choked her three times and “brutally raped and battered” her.
The civil court jury was told she was left with extensive injuries, including purple and blue bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloodied scratch to her breast and tenderness to her neck.
But lawyers for the fighter contested the lawsuit and accused her of attempted “extortion”.
They pointed to CCTV footage of Ms Hand arriving at and leaving the hotel with McGregor and a second man, James Lawrence, whom she also accused of sexual assault.
Both McGregor and Lawrence denied any wrongdoing. While Ms Hand won her case against McGregor, she lost her claim against Lawrence.
On Monday, McGregor’s legal team told jurors it did not matter if they did not like or even loathed the famous fighter, urging them to look at the evidence and not his character.
McGregor and Ms Hand knew each other and had occasionally been in contact on social media, the civil trial heard.
Before the assault, Ms Hand had contacted the fighter, who picked up her and a friend in his car.
McGregor “came on to her”, but she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him as she was on her period, the court heard.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant and senior Hamas commander over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence secretary Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas commander by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants against the senior Israeli figures are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks. It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden described the warrants against Israeli leaders as “outrageous”, adding “whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the ICC’s decision sent a “terrible message”.
“The court has minimised how Hamas fights – deliberately from within civilian infrastructure and cruelly using Palestinian civilians as human shields, tragically leading to many casualties,” the board said.
“Democratic governments, and people around the world, should consider how they would have responded to an October 7th perpetrated against their country, involving mass murder, rape, and hostage-taking.
“We should all be focused on defeating the Hamas terrorists, liberating the hostages, ensuring that civilians in Gaza receive all necessary aid and working towards a sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians to prevent these horrible conflicts in the future.
“The decision of the ICC is counter-productive in all these respects.”
Read more:
Hamas ready to secure ceasefire ‘immediately’
Netanyahu and Trump ‘see eye to eye’ on Iran
A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway