‘The lady’s not for turning up’: Liz Truss ducks urgent question from Sir Keir Starmer on the economy
Sir Keir Starmer has mocked Liz Truss for ducking an urgent question on the economy in the Commons, saying “the lady is not for turning up”.
Penny Mordaunt answered the question on the prime minister’s behalf, and the Labour leader thanked her, saying: “I guess under this Tory government, everybody gets to be prime minister for 15 minutes.”
He continued: “Mr Speaker, the country is in an economic crisis made in Downing Street because they’ve lost all credibility.
Hunt shreds Liz Truss’s economic strategy – politics live
“Government borrowing costs have soared, mortgage rates have ballooned. Markets need reassuring and there is long-term damage that can’t be undone.”
He added: “Once you’ve crashed the car 100 miles an hour, you’ve damaged it for good and you’re going to be paying much more on your insurance for years to come. And it’s working people who will pay.”
Sir Keir accused the prime minister of “hiding away” and said she was “scared of her own shadow”.
Other MPs also questioned the whereabouts of the prime minister, with Labour’s Stella Creasy asking if she was “cowering under her desk and asking for it all to go away”.
Ms Mordaunt, the Commons leader, said she was deputising for Ms Truss because the prime minister “is detained on urgent business”, adding: “I can assure the House that, with regret, she is not here for a very good reason.”
After ducking the showdown with the Labour leader, Ms Truss entered the chamber for a statement from Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor.
Ms Truss turned up to parliament for Jeremy Hunt’s statement
The prime minister is fighting for her political life after Mr Hunt ditched the bulk of the economic strategy that brought her into office just six weeks ago.
In an emergency statement designed to calm the markets on Monday morning, Mr Hunt announced the support for household energy bills would be scaled back and “almost all” the tax cuts promised by his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, would be reversed.
Sir Keir said the prime minister has no mandate for the changes, saying instead of leadership there is a “vacuum”.
He told the Commons: “Now is a time for consistent messaging. But what do we get? A prime minister saying absolutely no spending reductions, a chancellor saying there will be cuts. A prime minister saying she’s in charge, a chancellor who thinks he’s the CEO and she’s just the chair.”
He added: “How can Britain get the stability it needs when the prime minister has no mandate from her party and no mandate from the country?”
Ms Mordaunt defended the prime minister’s decision to sack Mr Kwarteng, a long-standing friend and ally, saying changing course was the “right thing to do” and “it took courage”.
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She deferred questions on the economy to Mr Hunt, who addressed the Commons afterwards and announced the formation of a new economic advisory council to provide “more independent expert advice” to the government.
The changes Mr Hunt revealed earlier today include:
- No cuts to dividend tax rates
- Repeal of the easing of IR35 rules for the self-employed introduced in 2017 and 2021
- No new VAT-free shopping scheme for overseas visitors to the UK
- No freeze on alcohol duty rates
- Basic rate of income tax to remain at 20%, not reduce to 19% from April 2023
- Energy price guarantee only until April 2023.
The government had already abandoned plans to scrap the 45p rate of income tax for top earners and had backtracked on a promise not to increase corporation tax.
The changes dramatically cut the cost of Mr Kwarteng’s £45bn tax giveaway, reducing it by around £32bn.
Ms Truss is now fighting to save her premiership, with five Conservative MPs publicly calling for her to go.
Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.
Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.
Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.
Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.
Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.
In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.
A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.
“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.
“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”
David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”
Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.
She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.
“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.
“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”
Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.
“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”
Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”
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Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.
“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.
“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.
“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.
“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.
“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”
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