Spending Cuts Are Coming

New chancellor Jeremy Hunt tells Commons that there will be tax rises and spending cuts.

Prime Minister Liz Truss has met her cabinet this morning, as she battles to regain authority amid Tory party unrest.

During the meeting, new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told ministers that spending cuts were coming and their budgets needed to be slashed.

He is currently preparing tax hikes and spending reductions to be announced at the end of the month.

The extent of the black hole in government finances means he needs to find tens of billions to balance the books. There could be trouble ahead on this.

Jeremy Hunt picked apart the previous mini budget, scrapping almost all of the tax cuts except for those that have already been enacted and curtailing the energy price guarantee for households.

The u-turns would claw back around £32 billion a year as the Government faces an estimated £60 billion black hole in the public finances.

Many ministers were unhappy including the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, who wanted his budget to increase in line with promises already made by the prime minister.

Liz Truss intends to lead the Conservatives into the next general election. 

After little more than a month in office, a consensus is building that Liz Truss could be finished as prime minister.

Removing a sitting prime minister who doesn't want to leave office isn't always easy. 

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak remains the favourite to succeed Liz Truss as prime minister if she loses her grip on power. Penny Mordaunt's chances rose after her appearance in the Commons yesterday.