Liz Truss facing mutiny from senior Tory MPs after new chancellor Jeremy Hunt tears up her economic package – UK politics live

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Thousands of food bank volunteers will warn Liz Truss tomorrow that they are having to ration provisions, as their services have become “overstretched and exhausted” because of an influx of people needing their help.

In a sign of a continuing cost of living crisis that was building even before the economic crisis that followed the government’s mini-budget, a letter signed by more than 3,000 food bank workers will be delivered to Downing Street.

It includes a warning that those who used to donate to food banks are now seeking their help, while some services are facing “breaking point” even as they are braced for increasing demand in the coming months.

“People who were already unable to afford food are being hit the hardest by relentless rises in energy, food and travel costs,” states the letter compiled by the Trussell Trust, Feeding Britain and the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan).

The Labour party is looking to capitalise on the government crisis with a series of new adverts as it gears up for the next general election.

The posters attack the Conservatives for damaging Britain’s standing on the world stage, hiking mortgages and crashing the economy.

Senior Conservatives have welcomed Jeremy Hunt‘s arrival as chancellor, saying he had effectively “taken over” running the government from Liz Truss after he unceremoniously dumped her tax-cutting agenda on his first day in office.

One senior Conservative MP said it was a huge relief to have someone in charge at the Treasury who was able to admit to recent mistakes and had made it his mission to restore the government’s credibility with the markets. “It is just so good to have a grownup in the room, someone who commands respect and who has experience after this period of utter madness.”

A former cabinet minister added that Hunt’s media interviews on Saturday, warning that taxes would have to rise and suggesting spending would have to be reined in, meant he was effectively running the show. “Jeremy is saying: I’m in charge now, move over,” said the former minister.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also appeared to be happy with the changes in Downing Street. Speaking in Washington, he said he had spoken to Hunt on Friday and had a “meeting of minds” on the issue of “fiscal sustainability”.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, has called for a general election, claimingn that problem is not just Prime Minister Liz Truss and the government, but the “whole” Conservative Party.

“They can’t agree and therefore I think they all need to go,” he told BBC Breakfast. He admitted that, given the state of the polls, it is unlikely that the Tories will do the “right thing” and hold an election.

But he said “the damage is already done” to the UK economy, in the wake of the mini-budget. Sir Ed said the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor has not gone far enough in reversing the mini-budget.

The Government seemed completely out of touch. I think they’re just taking people for granted. And let’s hope we get a Budget that improves things, but I’m afraid I feel a lot of the damage has already been done.

Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s UK politics liveblog as the future of the prime minster, Liz Truss, continues to hang by a thread two day after the sacking of her Chancellor failed to calm financial markets or win over increasingly mutinous Tory MPs.

I’m Ben Quinn and I’ll be bringing you coverage of developments today as many in the Prime Minister’s own party predict that her fate may be sealed within days.

The Observer reports today that senior Conservatives will this week hold talks on a “rescue mission” that would see the swift removal of as leader, after the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt dramatically tore up her economic package and signalled a new era of austerity.

A group of senior MPs will meet tomorrow to discuss the prime minister’s future, with some wanting her to resign within days and others saying she is now “in office but not in control”.

Some are threatening to publicly call on Truss to stand down after the implosion of her tax-cutting programme.

Between 15 and 20 former ministers and other senior MPs have been invited to a “dinner of grown-ups”, convened by leading supporters of Rishi Sunak, to plan how and when to remove Truss and install Sunak and fellow leadership contender Penny Mordaunt as a unity pairing.

A source familiar with the conversations said:

They are just going to have to sit down and work things out. It now becomes a rescue mission for the Conservative party and the economy. That’s where we are.

Those looking for further signals to reassure financial markets, or trying to read the latest political runes will want to listen to Hunt – the new Chancellor and a figure likened by one Conservative to the government’s new ‘chief executive’ in contrast with Truss’s ‘chairman’ – when he is interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg on her show, which starts in just under an hour.

Also doing the broadcast rounds this morning are the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith and chairman of the Education Committee Robert Halfon, who are on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, on Sky News, from 0830.

You can find me on Twitter at @BenQuinn75 if you would like to flag up any breaking news today which you feel we should be covering.