Truss ‘is not under desk’, Mordaunt tells MPs, claiming PM has ‘very good reason’ to be not answering UQ
In response to a question from Labour’s Stella Creasy, Mordaunt declared: “The prime minister is not under a desk.” Creasy suggested Liz Truss was “cowering” under one.
She says says Truss is not here “for a very good reason”.
There is speculation on social media that Truss may have rushed off to Ukraine, copying a favourite Boris Johnson tactic faced with domestic mayhem.
Key events
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Labour’s Rachel Reeves says people will be paying ‘Tory mortgage premium’ for years to come
Reeves says the Tories have run out of credibility, “and now they are running out of chancellors”.
Jeremy Hunt was a big part of austerity season one, she says. And now he says the answer is austerity season two.
She says that Hunt, when he was standing for Tory leader, wanted corporation tax to be cut to even lower than it is now.
People will be paying a “Tory mortgage premium” for years to come, she says.
She agrees with Hunt that the country needs stability. But where does Hunt think the instability came from?
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is responding for Labour. She jokes about having to again welcome a new chancellor to his place.
She says all that is left of the mini-budget is higher mortages for people, and the lifting of the cap on bankers’ bonuses.
She says it is harder than ever to see why the government will not agree to a windfall tax.
Hunt says he will publish a credible and costed plan to get debt down in the medium term on 31 October.
He says he is setting up a new advisory council. Its members will include Rupert Harrison, chief of staff to George Osborne when he was chancellor.
Hunt says he has genuine optimism about the long-term prospects for growth. He ends by saying:
The reason the United Kingdom has always succeeded is because at big and difficult moments we’ve taken tough decisions in the long-term interests of the country, and in a way that is consistent with compassionate Conservative values. That is what we will do now.
Hunt describes the energy price guarantee as “a landmark policy”.
But, reluctantly, he and the PM have agreed that it cannot continue in its current form beyond April. It would not be responsible to expose the public finances long term to potential increases in energy prices, he says.
Hunt is now summaring the tax cuts from the original mini-budget that have been axed. (See 11.15am.)
Jeremy Hunt tells MPs ‘eye-watering’ decisions on tax and spending will be taken in accordance with ‘compassionate Conservative values’
Jeremy Hunt starts by stressing the importance of economic stability. The wording is similar to that from his statement this morning.
He says the government will have to take decisions of “eye-watering difficulty”.
But the government will take those decisions so that any spending cuts or tax increases are decided in accordance with “core compassionate conservative values”.
The UQ is over. We are about to get the statement from the chancellor.
But Chris Byrant raises a point of order first. He says if there were legitimate reasons for Liz Truss not being able to take the UQ, she should give them now.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle says this is matter for the government.
“Get up and tell us,” somebody shouts.
Liz Truss has just entered the Commons. There was some cheering – more ironic than genuine, I think.
Colleagues are speculating about where Liz Truss might be. No one seems to know, but if she has had a meeting that is more important than this UQ, it has got to be more than a catch-up with the Ukrainian president.
One person who is a lot more important to Truss at the moment is Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee.
One option for Truss would be for her to call a confidence vote in herself. John Major did this when his leadership was under question in 1995. It worked for him in the short term, in that he won, and there were no further leadership challenges. But, in the long term, it did not enhance his authority.
In the Commons Penny Mordaunt has just said that Truss has always acted in the national interest. Mordaunt also said the country needed stability.
Mordaunt says there will be many opportunities to hear from the prime minister, “some in the next 24 hours”.
That implies Truss will make some sort of public statement before PMQs on Wednesday.
Chris Bryant (Lab) says it is “despicable” to sack someone for your own mistake. He says Truss abandoned the mini-budget because she could not get it through the Commons. In the past, a government that could not get its business through would call a general election, he says.
Mordaunt says it is “an honourable thing” to act in the national interest.
Mordaunt repeats PM has ‘genuine reason’ for missing Commons question
Mordaunt says, again, there is a “genuine reason” why Truss is not here. She says she hopes Truss will be in the chamber later.
Dame Margaret Hodge (Lab) asks Mordaunt to explain why Truss is not here. She says, for the sake of market confidence, it is important for people to know.
Mordaunt says she cannot say. She says she did ask if she could, but she cannot disclose the reason, she says.
Mordaunt says, for a third time in this UQ, that she is sorry about the events leading up to the mini-budget U-turns.
Chris Stephens (SNP) asks Mordaunt about the Mail on Sunday story saying Liz Truss over-ruled Kwasi Kwarteng on the mini-budget. (See 3.22pm.)
Mordaunt says those are not matters for her.
Sky’s Sam Coates says Liz Truss is in parliament this afternoon.
What’s interesting is that Liz Truss on in the Commons estate while Penny Mordaunt is in the chamber
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) October 17, 2022
So, if Coates is right (and he normally is), Truss is not in Ukraine. This is from the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman.
Mordaunt repeatedly saying there is a very serious reason the PM can’t be in the Commons. Think is going to have to be a bigger one than that she was phoning Zelensky…
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) October 17, 2022
Jess Phillips (Lab) says people are entitled to want to hear from the prime minister. She asks Mordaunt to be honest, “because nothing we have seen has been honest”. The Speaker allows the comment, after Phillips says it was not aimed at an individual. She asks why it was necessary to reassure the markets.
Mordaunt says:
There is a very genuine reason why the prime minister is not here today.
She does not answer the question about the markets.
Labour’s Diana Johnson asked Mordaunt to confirm that Truss would not be taking any economic decisions herself in the future. That provoked a loud burst of laughter from MPs.
Mordaunt did not quite say yes. She says Truss and her chancellor and her cabinet would be taking economic decisions in the future.
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