Fiscal watchdog to give initial forecast on mini-budget after meeting with PM and chancellor
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have met the head of the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog amid the fallout from the government’s mini-budget.
The government confirmed that publication of the forecast would not be brought forward from 23 November – more than seven weeks away.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) confirmed it would deliver an initial forecast to the chancellor next week, which “will, as always, be based on our independent judgment about economic and fiscal prospects and the impact of the government’s policies”.
The talks with the OBR came at the end of a week of economic turmoil in which the pound plunged, nearly half of mortgages were pulled and pension funds were saved from collapse.
The government said the meeting was “usual”, but it is highly uncommon for a prime minister to attend an OBR meeting, which is normally held between the watchdog and the chancellor to discuss upcoming economic forecasts.
A statement from Downing Street said: “This morning the prime minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng met with the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee, including the Chair Richard Hughes, at Number 10 Downing Street.
“They discussed the process for the upcoming economic and fiscal forecast, which will be published on 23 November, and the economic and fiscal outlook.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Mini-budget initial forecast next week
Mr Hughes confirmed the watchdog’s timetable after the meeting.
Speaking outside Downing Street, Mr Hughes said: “We are going to be providing the chancellor with an update next Friday, and we will set up a timetable for our forecast process next week.”
An OBR statement added: “We will deliver the first iteration of that forecast to the Chancellor on Friday 7 October and will set out the full timetable up to 23 November next week.”
House prices warning as growth slows to single digits – economy live updates
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘It’s unusual for PM to meet OBR’
The meeting came after criticism that an OBR forecast was not published alongside the chancellor’s mini-budget last week.
The OBR has a statutory requirement to provide two forecasts a year, and said it offered Mr Kwarteng one on his first day as chancellor.
The chancellor did not commission one, and the lack of analysis on the measures outlined in his financial statement is thought to have contributed to the turmoil in the markets in the past week.
The OBR was set up by the government in 2010 to provide independent analyses of the UK’s public finances.
Andrew Griffith, the financial secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News on Friday morning that it was a “very good idea” for Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng to meet with the OBR.
Sir Charles Bean, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, said such a summit is “quite unusual”.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Sir Charles said that meetings with the chancellor and OBR officials are not uncommon, but the prime minister less frequently talks with the watchdog.
He also said the meeting was like “closing the stable door after the horse had bolted”, as the OBR forecast needed to be released with the mini-budget to reassure markets.
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Pic: Railway of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia/AP
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will also be travelling to Kyiv on Friday in what will be her first foreign trip since being appointed to the job last week.
Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.
It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on on NATO’s doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Drones shot down in Poland
The Zapad-2025 exercise – a show of force by Russia and its close ally – will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.
The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.
“We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.
“We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
Read more from Sky News:
Brazil’s ex-president jailed for 27 years
Migrant hotel critics meet asylum seekers
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.
The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
Earlier this week, Harry said the King is “great” after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.
It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.
The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting a coup to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat.
The far-right politician, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is currently under house arrest in the capital, Brasilia.
A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence several hours after they found the 70-year-old guilty on five counts.
The counts were trying to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempting violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, being implicated in violence, and posing a serious threat to the state’s assets and listed heritage.
Bolsonaro‘s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.
Pic: AP
The ruling will deepen political divisions in Brazil and is also likely to prompt a backlash from the United States government – with Donald Trump already sharing his thoughts on the vote.
President Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, has said he was surprised and “very unhappy” with the decision.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said he always found Bolsonaro “outstanding” and said the conviction is “very bad for Brazil”.
Mr Trump previously called the case a “witch hunt”, slapped Brazil with tariff hikes, and revoked US visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.
Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
He has not attended the court proceedings, and on Thursday, he was seen at the garage of his property, but did not talk to the media.
Read more from Sky News:
What we know about how Charlie Kirk was killed
Read Mandelson’s letter to US embassy staff after being sacked
Justice Carmen Lucia. Pic: AP
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been overseeing the case, said on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favour of convicting him. Justices Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia, and Cristiano Zanin sided with Justice Moraes in the trial.
On Wednesday, another justice, Luiz Fux, disagreed and voted to acquit the ex-president of all charges.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Justice Lucia said she was convinced by the evidence the attorney general’s office put forward against Bolsonaro, saying: “He is the instigator, the leader of an organisation that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power.”
Bolsonaro had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a different case.
He is expected to choose an heir who is likely to challenge President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next year.
The FBI and officials have released new video and images of a “person of interest” in connection with the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as the manhunt continues.
At a news conference on Friday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox showed video footage showing the suspect walking on the roof of the building from where the fatal shot was fired. He is then seen climbing down and heading toward a wooded area, where police say he abandoned his rifle.
Additional images released by police show the suspect wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a backpack.
Investigators have conducted nearly 200 interviews related to the case as 20 law enforcement partners are working on the investigation, Governor Cox said.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the attacker, he said.
Follow the latest updates on Charlie Kirk’s killing
Authorities have released additional images of the attacker. Pic: Utah Public Safety
Earlier, authorities said the shooter was thought to have jumped off a roof and fled into a neighbourhood after firing one shot.
They also said the suspect was a male who “appears to be of college age” and blended in on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, where Mr Kirk was killed.
Mr Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing influencer, was fatally shot in the neck on Wednesday afternoon while speaking to university students at an event. He died in hospital after being shot.
Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University where he was later fatally shot. Pic: AP
The rifle suspected of being used in the shooting has been found.
In a briefing on Thursday, FBI agent Robert Bohls said: “I can tell you that we have recovered what we believe is the weapon that was used in yesterday’s shooting… is a high-powered bolt action rifle.
“That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled. The FBI laboratory will be analysing this weapon.”
Investigators have collected a footwear impression, a palm print, and forearm imprints for analysis.
Authorities have released additional images of the attacker. Pic: Utah Public Safety
Read more:
Who was Charlie Kirk?
Moment gunshot heard at university event – Watch
The father-of-two was the chief executive and co-founder of Turning Point USA, a prominent organisation that engages conservative youth on school campuses.
He had millions of followers across social media.
Mr Kirk and Turning Point USA played a key role in driving youth support for Mr Trump in last November’s presidential election. His events at college campuses nationwide typically drew large crowds.
Many people listened both in person and online to Mr Kirk, as he advocated for conservatism among younger generations and became a leading voice in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
President Donald Trump paid tribute to Mr Kirk while on stage at a 9/11 memorial event in Virginia, saying he would be awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Authorities have released additional images of the attacker. Pic: Utah Public Safety
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
“Before we begin, let me express the horror and grief so many Americans at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk have felt,” Mr Trump said.
“Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people. Our prayers are with his wonderful wife, Erika, and his beautiful children.”
He later added the FBI was making “big progress” in finding the shooter and he has “an indication” of the motive, but declined to expand.
“He’s an animal, total animal, hopefully they’ll have him and they’ll get him.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports4 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
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024