Financial market crisis: SNP’s Ian Blackford warns Liz Truss’ government of the ‘worst’

As the Tories travel to Birmingham for their annual conference, which begins today, Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland said they were “absolutely determined” to fund their commitments amid signs ministers are preparing to put significant pressure on public spending.

Previously, Liz Truss conceded that Mr Kwarteng’s “fiscal event” had led to a “disruption” – with the pound falling to a record low against the US dollar and the Bank of England’s forced intervention to prevent a collapse in the pension industry to prevent.

However, in a letter to a national newspaper, the prime minister insisted the government had done the right thing to help the economy grow and would keep “a firm grip on national finances as part of our commitment to sound money”.

SNP Westminster boss Ian Blackford. Image: PA

Meanwhile, in an article for The Daily Telegraph, Mr Kwarteng said he would put together a “credible plan” to get public finances back on track with a “commitment to spending discipline”.

Sir Robert said the position would become clearer when the Chancellor presented his medium-term fiscal plan later next month, setting out how he would begin to reduce debt as a percentage of national income.

Speaking to ` Radio 4’s Today programme, he said it would “give the markets a great deal of reassurance that this government, like its predecessors, is absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility”.

His comments came after the prime minister again refused to commit to an annual increase in benefits in line with inflation – something Rishi Sunak promised when he was chancellor.

Demonstrators are calling for an immediate freeze on energy bills. Image: Lisa Ferguson

A key Prime Minister ally, Senior Secretary Simon Clarke, signaled that ministers are looking to shrink the overall size of the state alongside falling tax rates.

“My big concern in politics is that Western Europe just lives in a fool’s paradise where we can always be less productive compared to our fellow humans and still enjoy a very large welfare state and still believe that the two are somehow compatible medium – in the long term,” he says.