Chancellor to deliver parts of his medium-term fiscal plan today, Treasury says

Published

3 years ago

October 17, 2022

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver parts of his medium-term fiscal plan later today, the Treasury has said.

In a statement the Treasury said the chancellor was fast-tracking the plans, which will be released in full on 31 October.

It said it followed conversations with Prime Minister Liz Truss over the weekend and a meeting with the governor of the Bank of England and the head of the Debt Management Office on Sunday night.

Politics latest: More U-turns expected on mini-budget

Ms Truss is facing calls to resign from three Tory MPs following the economic turmoil in the wake of the mini-budget.

Tory MPs Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis have publicly stated they believe she should resign, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Ms Truss to face parliament and accused her of being “in office but not in power”.

The Daily Mail reported that Tory MPs will try to oust Ms Truss later this week, with more than 100 ready to submit letters of no confidence.

Last week Ms Truss sacked her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt as she ditched a major chunk of the mini-budget.

Mr Hunt has insisted the prime minister is still in charge during media appearances over the weekend, though he said a tough package of tax rises and spending cuts was necessary in order to steady the UK economy.

Sir Keir said Ms Truss’s brief news conference to explain her latest U-turn on Friday “completely failed to answer any of the questions the public has”.

He said: “Mortgages are rising and the cost of living crisis is being felt ever more acutely. The Conservative government is currently the biggest threat to the security and the finances of families across the country.

“That’s why the prime minister must come to parliament on Monday, to explain what she plans to do to turn the situation around.

“If the prime minister won’t take questions from journalists, Liz Truss must at least take them from MPs representing the families whose livelihoods she’s putting at risk.”

MPs believe it is simply not sustainable for Truss to remain as PM

I was told by a cabinet source Liz Truss had no option but to sack Kwasi Kwarteng because it was made clear to her he’d lost the confidence of markets and her only hope of steadying the ship was removing him.

But what follows from that is obvious: as a second cabinet source put it to me over weekend, what the markets do in the coming few days will be critical for Ms Truss too.

The firewall provided by the chancellor is now burnt through and if there’s no improvement, the signal will be that the problem is her.

Politically the view settling amongst MPs is that it’s simply not sustainable for her to remain as prime minister.

All eyes are now on Sir Graham Brady, the only person who knows when a leadership election has been triggered, to see what he does. Party rules say Ms Truss has a year’s grace, but they can change the rules.

But there’s also a view, shared by some Truss rivals and backers alike, that the PM has bought a bit of time.

As one cabinet minister told me: “Despite the hysteria, the reality is we need to calm down, let Liz decide her new priorities and Jeremy deliver his budget. Nothing will be gained in the next 14 days by more fratricide.”

But the point is, as Conservative Home’s Paul Goodman put it, it’s over for Ms Truss whether she’s pushed out or not.

Her economic project is finished and her authority is gone. And that makes it very hard to see how she can lead the party into a general election.

I’ll be watching the markets and Sir Graham very closely on Monday.

In a sign of divide within the Tory Party, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries criticised her colleagues.

“I cannot imagine there’s one G7 country which thinks we’re worthy of a place at the table,” she tweeted.

“The removal of one electorally successful PM, the disgraceful plotting to remove another by those who didn’t get their way first time round is destabilising our economy and our reputation.”

To register your interest and share your story, please email TheGreatDebate@sky.uk

UK

IT issue affects flights at Edinburgh Airport

Published

1 hour ago

December 5, 2025

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IT issue affects flights at Edinburgh Airport

All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.

Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.

“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”

But passengers continue to feel the effects.

A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.

And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.

Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.

Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.

“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”

Follow live: Latest updates as flights halted

One passenger was on a plane when they found out.

They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.

“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”

Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.

“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”

It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.

“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.

“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”

There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.

It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.

Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”

The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.

An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.

UK

Teenager fatally hit by car on motorway had been tasered by police, watchdog says

Published

1 hour ago

December 5, 2025

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Teenager fatally hit by car on motorway had been tasered by police, watchdog says

The police watchdog says it is investigating after a teenager who was tasered by an officer on a motorway was fatally hit by a car.

Logan Smith, 18, was being taken to hospital in an ambulance at about 11pm on Sunday when the vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder of the M5 in Somerset.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the vehicle stopped on the northbound carriageway “due to the concerns of ambulance staff”.

Mr Smith got out of the ambulance near the junction for Weston-super-Mare and “entered the live lanes of the motorway”, the watchdog added.

Police were called and an officer arrived at the scene, with bodycam footage showing the officer discharging their Taser, causing the teenager to fall to the ground.

“Soon afterwards” Mr Smith was struck by a car travelling on the southbound carriageway, the IOPC said.

The watchdog said it was investigating the “actions and decisions taken by Avon and Somerset Police prior to the death of a teenager”.

IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “My thoughts and sympathies are with Logan’s family and friends and everyone affected by this shocking and tragic incident. 

“We want to reassure everyone that we will independently investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident, including the use of a Taser.

“After being notified by the force, we sent our investigators to the police post incident procedure to begin gathering evidence.

“We have taken initial accounts from the officer and ambulance staff involved.

“We met with Logan’s family on Tuesday, to give our condolences, explain our role and to provide some further detail about our investigation, including a Taser being discharged during the incident.

“We will continue to keep them updated and they request that their privacy be respected at such a difficult time.”

The coroner has been informed and formal identification and a post-mortem have taken place.

UK

Former doctor charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients

Published

2 hours ago

December 5, 2025

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Former doctor charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients

A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.

Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.

It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.

Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.

Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.

“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”

Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.

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