Latest updates: Liz Truss being interviewed on opening day of Tory conference in Birmingham
Tory conference cheat sheet: all you need to know
Here are some more lines from Liz Truss’s interview with Edward Malnick in the Sunday Telegraph.
Truss revealed that she wants to extend the number for firms that qualify as a small business, allowing them to benefit from lighter regulation. She said:
One of the things we’ll be announcing is raising the definition of a small business, in terms of regulation, from 250 employees to 500 employees.
She confirmed that she wanted to increase certain types of immigration into the UK – although she rejected claims that low-skilled immigration would rise. Malnick reports:
The prime minister rejects claims that she wants to relax immigration rules to increase the number of low skilled migrants coming to the UK, as part of her plan to boost growth. “That’s not true,” she insists, with a frown.
But she appears to confirm that the government will increase the number of seasonal agricultural workers and other “high skilled people” given permission to work in Britain.
She wants to increase the number of childminders available by creating new childminder agencies, the Sunday Telegraph says. Malnick reports:
The Telegraph can also reveal today that one plan being worked up is to increase the number of childminders by boosting the number of specialist childminder agencies. The agencies are registered to be inspected by Ofsted, reducing the administrative burden on individual workers. Ms Truss championed the idea while childcare minister between 2012 in 2014.
She accepted that people would find change “worrying” but she said sticking ith the economic status quo was not an option. She said:
Change is always something that people might find worrying. But what I’m fundamentally saying is we do have to change, and the status quo isn’t an option …
We made promises to people in 2019 that things would be different. And what does that mean? It means more opportunities, higher wages, more investment, and those are all the things that I am seeking to unlock.
She defended the decision not to ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to publish a new economic forecast with the mini-budget, implying there was not time. She said:
During Covid we acted quickly and decisively on things like the furlough scheme without an OBR forecast, because the situation was urgent. And I and the chancellor believe that the situation is equally urgent, now, and here.
She confirmed she will be attending the inaugural summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Prague later this week. She said:
The reason I’m going to Prague on Thursday is I want to be talking to counterparts across Europe, including ones that are in the European Union and ones that aren’t – it’s a wide variety of countries – about migration, and how we collectively deal with migration. It’s not a problem Britain can solve on our own.
We have a lot of countries people are travelling through to get to Britain. So we need a better solution on that, we need to deal with the problem upstream, so that’s what we’ll be talking about, but also energy.
Continue reading…Latest updates: Liz Truss being interviewed on opening day of Tory conference in BirminghamTory conference cheat sheet: all you need to knowHere are some more lines from Liz Truss’s interview with Edward Malnick in the Sunday Telegraph.Truss revealed that she wants to extend the number for firms that qualify as a small business, allowing them to benefit from lighter regulation. She said:One of the things we’ll be announcing is raising the definition of a small business, in terms of regulation, from 250 employees to 500 employees.She confirmed that she wanted to increase certain types of immigration into the UK – although she rejected claims that low-skilled immigration would rise. Malnick reports:The prime minister rejects claims that she wants to relax immigration rules to increase the number of low skilled migrants coming to the UK, as part of her plan to boost growth. “That’s not true,” she insists, with a frown.But she appears to confirm that the government will increase the number of seasonal agricultural workers and other “high skilled people” given permission to work in Britain.She wants to increase the number of childminders available by creating new childminder agencies, the Sunday Telegraph says. Malnick reports:The Telegraph can also reveal today that one plan being worked up is to increase the number of childminders by boosting the number of specialist childminder agencies. The agencies are registered to be inspected by Ofsted, reducing the administrative burden on individual workers. Ms Truss championed the idea while childcare minister between 2012 in 2014.She accepted that people would find change “worrying” but she said sticking ith the economic status quo was not an option. She said:Change is always something that people might find worrying. But what I’m fundamentally saying is we do have to change, and the status quo isn’t an option …We made promises to people in 2019 that things would be different. And what does that mean? It means more opportunities, higher wages, more investment, and those are all the things that I am seeking to unlock.She defended the decision not to ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to publish a new economic forecast with the mini-budget, implying there was not time. She said:During Covid we acted quickly and decisively on things like the furlough scheme without an OBR forecast, because the situation was urgent. And I and the chancellor believe that the situation is equally urgent, now, and here.She confirmed she will be attending the inaugural summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Prague later this week. She said:The reason I’m going to Prague on Thursday is I want to be talking to counterparts across Europe, including ones that are in the European Union and ones that aren’t – it’s a wide variety of countries – about migration, and how we collectively deal with migration. It’s not a problem Britain can solve on our own.We have a lot of countries people are travelling through to get to Britain. So we need a better solution on that, we need to deal with the problem upstream, so that’s what we’ll be talking about, but also energy. Continue reading…