Liz Truss — live: PM refuses to rule out benefits cuts, pledging ‘responsible finance’

Reacting to the news, barrister Colin Yeo said: “I can’t see how a blanket ban could possibly be compatible with the Refugee Convention. Either the UK is withdrawing from the international system for protecting refugees or she’s over promising. I suspect the latter, we’ll see.”

Liz Truss has sidestepped questions about further U-turns as she faces a growing rebellion within her own party against potential benefits cuts.

Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt broke ranks to call for payments to rise in line with soaring inflation as backbenchers warned the prime minister she would struggle to get the move through parliament.

Unlike the previous government, Ms Truss has refused to confirm her plan for benefits, meaning some of the poorest households could face a real-terms cut in their income.

A day after rebels forced her to backtrack on plans to give the richest a tax cuts, critics now have a battle over benefits in their sights.

In an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Ms Truss was pressed a number of times on future about turns. Asked if there would be further U-turns on the mini- budget, she said she was determined to press ahead with her plan for economic growth, leading the host to accuse her of not answering the question.

The embattled PM refuses to confirm her plan for benefits, meaning some of the poorest households could face a real-terms cut in their income

“And most recently in this package that the chancellor announced of doing everything we can to protect the most vulnerable in society. That has been a driving force for this government.”

Prime minister Liz Truss said there is a need to be “fiscally responsible” amid suggestions benefits will not rise in line with inflation.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are going to have to make decisions about how we bring down debt as a proportion of GDP in the medium term.

“I am very committed to supporting the most vulnerable, in fact in addition to the energy price guarantee we’re also providing an extra £1,200 to the poorest households.

“So we have to look at these issues in the round, we have to be fiscally responsible.”

Senior Conservative MP Mel Stride said he would have to “think long and hard” if asked to vote to increase benefits in line with earnings rather than inflation.

The Treasury Select Committee chairman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’d need to see all the details, I’d need to see it in the round, but I’d have to think long and hard about that.

“Because the last time the benefits were uprated, because of the way the mechanism works they’re uprated in April but they’re pegged against the previous September’s inflation, and the way it worked last time was the uprating was just 3.1 per cent because inflation was low the previous September, but of course inflation was much higher than that (in April).

“So we’re coming off the back actually of a kind of quite a strong real-terms squeeze on those benefits already so I think that will be a really tough call to make.”

Centrist Conservative MPs have vowed to block Liz Truss’s plans for reduced spending on public services and welfare, after a humiliating U-turn on tax left the prime minister’s authority deeply damaged.

One former minister told The Independent that opponents of the PM’s radical economic policies had been “invigorated” by the sight of Ms Truss “blinking” over a scheme to abolish the 45p top rate of tax for the highest earners.

And senior backbenchers made clear that they were ready to do battle on welfare, with two former work and pensions secretaries saying it would be wrong to renege on Boris Johnson’s pledge of an inflation-matching rise and Michael Gove indicating he would need “a lot of persuading” to back cuts.

‘She blinked’: Centrists believe prime minister will be forced to tone down radical policies

The Treasury has deleted a misleading claim about the supposed benefits of Kwasi Kwarteng’s budget for average earners.

The chancellor’s department had claimed someone on £30,000 a year could save around £12,700 from the package of measures if they were buying a “typical” terraced house in London.

But it emerged that someone applying for an ordinary mortgage would need to have a deposit of around £440,000 in order to benefit.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reporting the details:

Claimed benefits for average earner would need someone to have a wealth of over £400,000

A Scottish parliamentary committee is due to take evidence on racism in cricket.

Cricket Scotland was placed into special measures earlier this year after a report found 448 instances of institutional racism, with the entire board of the body quitting 24 hours before the report was released.

An interim review by Sportscotland released last week found that the body was making progress but that a “genuine cultural change” was needed.

On Tuesday, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee will take evidence from Gordon Arthur, interim chief executive of Cricket Scotland, and Sportscotland CEO Forbes Dunlop.

A report into Cricket Scotland earlier this year found 448 instances of institutional racism.

Some Tory MPs are “openly talking” about how Liz Truss might be removed, said former No 10 chief of staff Nick Timothy – predicting it will be difficult for the PM to survive.

The ex-Downing Street official, who worked under Theresa May, said it remained “very, very difficult to recover” after the disastrous mini-Budget which sparked a backbench rebellion.

Mr Timothy said some of the MPs who decided to avoid the Tory conference are “having that conversation” about her leadership. “MPs are openly talking about it,” he told LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr.

‘Very difficult’ for PM to recover, says Nick Timothy – as Rachel Johnson predicts Truss could ‘go down with the pound’

Home secretary Suella Braverman is considering a radical change to the criminal justice system to guarantee suspects anonymity before they are charged.

The cabinet minister said she was “looking at” whether changes could be made to protect the privacy of those suspected of a crime to save them from “trial by media”.

“I think that we’ve had some high-profile instances where the media circus around a suspect – who has not been charged – can be and has been devastating,” she told the Tory party conference in Birmingham.

My colleague Adam Forrest has more:

Naming accused before charges made can be ‘very damaging’, says home secretary