BETA filters Key Events (2) Right-wing Tory MP John Redwood has welcomed Liz Truss’ refusal to commit to appointing a new ethics adviser to No 10 if she becomes prime minister. Good news that Liz Truss does not want to appoint an ethics adviser. He will judge right and wrong with the whole country watching. There will be other positions he can do without in the government. — John Redwood (@johnredwood) August 24, 2022 Redwood was Welsh secretary under John Major but has not served in government since 1995 and last sat on the Conservative frontbench in 2005. However, he has been tipped for a cabinet post if Truss becomes prime minister. Gavin Barwell, who was Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was Prime Minister, says that even if Truss can tell the difference between right and wrong herself, she would benefit from having an independent ethics adviser. He will find that when you have to sack one of your ministers – possibly a close friend – it is really useful for a prime minister to have an independent figure to confirm that he has broken the ministerial code, rather than you judging for yourself. https://t.co/NR43RuoMLV — Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) August 24, 2022
Sunak says freezing energy price cap would require excessive government borrowing
And here is a complete summary of the key lines from Rishi Sunak’s interview on the Today programme.
He defended his decision not to back plans to freeze the energy price cap at current levels – saying that would require too much government borrowing. Labor and the Lib Dems are proposing a freeze on the energy price cap, and many energy companies also want to see the energy price cap frozen at the current level, alongside a mechanism to compensate them for income they were losing. Sunak said the energy companies had not spoken to him directly about their plan. (He appeared to be referring to Scottish Power’s proposal for a £100bn bailout.) But he said that would involve borrowing too much. He said:
This is a challenge that will be with us for some time. And in that context, we need to make sure that what we do is not only affordable, but also not going to exacerbate inflation. And at a time when we’re already borrowing an enormous amount of money, I think that we’re embarking on policies and programs that add not just tens of billions, but tens and tens and tens and tens of billions of pounds on a permanent basis to our borrowing is dangerous, and this was actually a conversation we’ve had in this leadership race now. I think that’s a gamble with people’s savings, with their pensions, with mortgage rates, to incorporate more inflation, and that’s not going to help anybody if that happens, because inflation makes everybody poor. It is pernicious. So yes, I’m nervous and skeptical about plans that are complacent about this risk.
He said plans that implied the government did not have to make hard choices were generally “too good to be true”. He pointed this out when talking specifically about proposals to freeze the energy price cap, but also made it clear that he believed some of Liz Truss’ plans fell into that category. See 9.04am
He said he was following the lead set by Margaret Thatcher by stressing the need for the government to take tough choices. He cited her when asked to name the conservative thinker who had most influenced him. She said people who had worked with her approved of his approach to tackling inflation, not Truss. He continued:
One thing I admire and respect [Thatcher] … is that she was prepared not only to say the easy things that people might want to hear, she said what might be hard for them to hear but was right for the country, and she had the courage of her convictions. And that’s a standard I hold myself to.
He refused to accept that Labour’s plan to freeze the energy price cap for the winter was fully costed. He said the proposal was met with “fierce criticism [the] credibility of this costing’. Sunak was referring in particular to Labour’s claim that £7bn to pay for the scheme would come from lower interest payments on the national debt.
He hinted that he was in favor of the government telling the world to use less energy this winter. Asked if the government should do this, like other governments in Europe, Sunak replied:
We have to look at all the options available to us, and there are things that the manufacturers and the plumbers association have mentioned, which I thought were very reasonable, about changing the flow rates in the boilers, that I didn’t know about that can help reducing energy use without people seeing any real impact on how they consume energy. So we’ll have to see all of that. I would also start a program of massive energy efficiency upgrades to people’s homes. Rajan asked this question because the current government and the Truss campaign are resisting the idea that people should be asked to reduce their energy use. This position has been roundly criticized, for example by FT columnist Sarah Connor. Something you use has become very expensive and is about to become more so, but don’t try to figure out how to use it less, whatever you do — Sarah O’Connor (@sarahoconnor_) August 23, 2022 Updated at 09.48 BST
Rishi Sunak refuses to pledge to vote for Truss emergency budget if he wins Tory leadership
Good morning. Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor who will only beat Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest if several polls turn out to be completely wrong, is being interviewed on the Today program this morning. He’s been doing a lot of interviews recently, which may be partly down to the fact that he’s a confident media player, but probably says more about the fact that, as an underdog in the competition, he has nothing to lose. Instead, Truss has repeatedly declined invitations for media interviews. Speaking to Today presenter Amol Rajan, Sunak refused to commit to voting for Truss’s proposed emergency budget in September if he wins. He has already said he would not take a job in her cabinet because he disagrees so strongly with her plan to reverse the increase in national insurance she implemented as chancellor. (He sees it as an unfunded tax cut that would fuel inflation and disproportionately benefit the rich.) At last night’s Tory meetings in Birmingham, Mr Sunack dodged a question about whether he would vote for Truss’s plan if he won. Rajan tried again and told Sunak that people would like to know if he would vote against the planned Truss emergency budget. Again, Sunak didn’t answer. Answered: I’m not going to get into those things in part because acting like this fight isn’t over isn’t right. But at another point in the interview he repeated his claim that Truss’ tax proposals were virtually impossible. He said: Governance is difficult. Governance involves choices, it involves difficult trade-offs. Plans, whether they come from my opponent or from the energy companies or whoever, that seem to suggest that you can have absolutely anything you want and you don’t have to make a hard choice – that you can have lots of tax cuts, you can help people with the cost of living, borrowing doesn’t matter, inflation will take care of itself – if it all sounds too good to be true, I think most people listening will think most things, when they do they sound too good to be real, they probably are. I will post more from the interview soon. My colleague Gemma McSherry covered the Birmingham attacks on the blog last night. You can read her report here. Otherwise it looks relatively quiet today, but here are three things on the calendar. 9.30am: The ONS publishes a report on the impact of sanctions on UK trade with Russia. 10am: Andy Burnham, the Labor mayor of Greater Manchester, joined Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, in Glasgow at an event to discuss Labor teams to empower communities. 12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, takes part in an ‘In Conversation’ on the fringes of Edinburgh. I’m trying to follow the comments below the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they’re of general interest I’ll post the question and answer above the line (ATL), though I can’t promise I’ll do it for everyone. If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow. Alternatively you can email me at [email protected] Updated at 09.44 BST
