In a tweet after a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the prime minister said: “Putin’s calls for mobilization are a sure sign that his barbaric invasion is failing.” Putin’s calls for mobilization are a sure sign that his barbaric invasion is failing. Any fake referendums on Ukrainian territory will not be recognized. @vonderleyen and I are united in our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as necessary. pic.twitter.com/OYuSrNCxbU — Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 21, 2022 Updated 19.01 BST Important events BETA filters Key Facts (15)Liz Truss (13)Joe Biden (5)Vladimir Putin (5)Kwasi Quarteng (5)Graeme Wearden (3) Robert Jenrick, the MP for Newark, said his constituent Aiden Ashlin was among the British nationals freed by pro-Russian forces. A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic had sentenced Ashlin to death along with fellow British prisoner Sean Pinner in July. The identities of those released have not yet been confirmed by the government. Genrick tweeted: “Delighted that my constituent Aiden Ashlin and the other British POWs held by the Russian authorities have finally been released and are returning to the UK.” He said he was “deeply grateful” to the Ukrainian government, as well as the Saudi crown prince and the Foreign Ministry, who said they were involved in securing the release. “Aiden’s return ends months of agonizing uncertainty for Aiden’s loving family in Newark who suffered every day from Aiden’s sham trial but never lost hope. As they are united as a family once again, they can finally be at peace.” I am delighted that my constituent, Aiden Aslin, and the other British prisoners of war held by the Russian authorities have finally been released and are returning to the UK. 1/3 — Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) September 21, 2022
Liz Truss says any “fake referendums” in Ukraine will not be recognised
Liz Truss said any “fake referendums” in Ukraine would not be recognised, in a warning to Vladimir Putin. In a tweet after a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the prime minister said: “Putin’s calls for mobilization are a sure sign that his barbaric invasion is failing.” Putin’s calls for mobilization are a sure sign that his barbaric invasion is failing. Any fake referendums on Ukrainian territory will not be recognized. @vonderleyen and I are united in our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as necessary. pic.twitter.com/OYuSrNCxbU — Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 21, 2022 Updated 19.01 BST Truss reiterates that he wants to discuss the observance and protection of the Good Friday agreement. Updated at 18.47 BST US President Joe Biden meets British Prime Minister Liz Truss on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images Updated at 18.47 BST He adds that the UK will increase defense spending to 3% of GDP and “we want to work more closely with the US on energy security, economic security and bringing democracies around the world closer together” to protect freedoms. Updated at 18.48 BST Truss thanks Biden and his wife for attending the Queen’s funeral. As for Ukraine, the prime minister says “we face enormous challenges as authoritarians seek to consolidate and increase their assertiveness around the world.” Updated at 18.42 BST Biden said the conflict in Ukraine, China. Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, energy prices and protecting the Good Friday agreement will be on the agenda. Updated 19.07 BST
Liz Truss meets Joe Biden in New York
Liz Truss is currently meeting US President Joe Biden in New York. Updated at 18.43 BST Five British nationals held by Russian-backed forces have been returned safely, Prime Minister Liz Truss said. The news that five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine have been returned safely is extremely welcome, ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families. — Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 21, 2022 Updated at 18.39 BST
Rising public debt ‘would ultimately prove unsustainable’ under Trust tax plans, says IFS
Andrew Sparrow When Kwasi Kwarteng unveils his “emergency budget” on Friday, it won’t be accompanied by a new economic forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility – because Kwarteng has ordered he doesn’t want one now. But he can’t stop economists analyzing his plans, and tonight the Institute for Fiscal Studies published its own analysis of his plans, based on what we know so far about what Kwarteng will announce (which is a lot). And the IFS says that, under the plan announced so far (mainly by Liz Truss during the Tory leadership contest), the mounting debt “will ultimately prove unsustainable”. Here is an excerpt from the IFS analysis (bold types in original). The combination of higher spending and substantial tax cuts leaves borrowing running at a much higher level than forecast in March. Importantly, even assuming the energy price guarantee expires in October 2024, our forecast shows borrowing to be around £100bn a year, over £60bn a year higher than forecast in March. Almost half of this increase in borrowing will be due to the new tax cuts. At about 3.5% of national income, this would not be much more than double the 1.9% of national income that averaged in the 60 years before the global financial crisis, when growth prospects were significantly higher. With investment spending hovering around 2.5% of national income, this would leave a persistent projected current budget deficit of around 1% of national income. Without new tax cuts, the current budget would have been projected to remain balanced… Allowing a temporary increase in debt to finance one-off support packages such as the energy price guarantee or the license scheme in exceptional cases is justified and may be sustainable, but the same cannot be done to allow increasing debt indefinitely. to enjoy lower taxes now.” And this is from Carl Emmerson, deputy director at the IFS and another author of the research, which was produced with Citi bank and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Under the new prime minister’s plans, the fiscal targets legislated in January would be lost, and while we would enjoy lower taxes now, the ever-increasing debt would ultimately prove unsustainable. The government chooses to increase borrowing precisely as it becomes more expensive to do so, in a bet on growth that may not pay off. The increase in annual growth required just to stabilize debt as a fraction of national income under our projections would equal the difference in growth seen in the quarter century between 1983 and the 2008 financial crisis and that decade of 2010. Achieving this scale of increase in trend growth, while not impossible, would require either a lot of luck over a long period of time or a concerted change in policy direction. One cannot simply presume oneself on fiscal sustainability.’ Updated at 18.41 BST The Lib Dems have accused the government of planning to give big banks an effective tax cut of more than £6bn over two years as Liz Truss plans to scrap her proposed corporation tax rise. A pledge to change course on the planned corporate tax hike was a centerpiece of Truss’ campaign to become Conservative leader, with the change expected to be part of Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday. But Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey hit out at the plan, branding it “disgraceful” as he cited new research which suggested big banks and financial firms would receive £2.6bn of tax cuts in 2023/24 , followed by another tax cut of £3.6bn next year. The inquiry, from the House of Commons Library, was commissioned by the Liberal Democrats and the party is calling on the prime minister and chancellor not to go ahead with the tax freeze plan. will benefit more than any other sector from the plan. Speaking in New York to the bosses of companies including Google, Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase, the prime minister said her government wanted “lower, simpler taxes in the UK to incentivize investment, to start more businesses in the UK, but also to encourage more people. to go to work.” Updated at 18.17 BST Andrew Sparrow This is from Boris Johnson, one of many MPs pledging allegiance to the new king in parliament today. That’s all from me for today. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is now taking over. These are from Mujtaba Rahman, the Brexit expert at consultancy Eurasia Group, in his reading from the Truss/Von der Leyen meeting. (See 5.02pm) Updated at 17.32 BST
Truss and von der Leyen discuss NI protocol – but refuse to say what was said in the bipartite reading
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, says she had a good chat with Liz Truss in New York today. They then issued a joint statement on Ukraine, in which they agree. Says: [Truss and Von der Leyen] strongly condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine and agreed that Putin’s recent calls to mobilize sections of the population were a sign that Russia’s invasion was failing. It is a statement of weakness. They recognized the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian people and underlined their shared commitment to sustain support for Ukraine in its struggle for as long as necessary. The statement also said the two leaders discussed “energy, food security and the Northern Ireland Protocol”, but did not reveal what was said about the protocol or how long it was…
