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After sacking her chancellor and abandoning a flagship policy, the prime minister is fighting for her political future The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is on Sky News this morning discussing his plans for the position. He says the Liz Truss administration has made “mistakes” and warned there are “difficult decisions ahead”. I want to do the right thing for British people. It’s a big honour to do the job that I’ve been asked to do by the prime minister but I want to be honest with people: we have some very difficult decisions ahead. There were mistakes. It was a…

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Exclusive: critics say stripped-down Environment Agency has not levied a fine in 12 years so no point to higher cap The government’s pledge to raise the cap on the amount of money the Environment Agency can fine water companies for sewage pollution to £250m has been described as “hot air”, as the Guardian can reveal the regulator has failed to levy any such penalties since it was given powers to do so 12 years ago. Variable monetary penalties (VMPs) were introduced in 2010 to enable the Environment Agency to directly levy fines for serious environmental offences without having to go…

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Kwarteng’s replacement is warned of inflation impact, crumbling services and financial ‘black hole’ that he has two weeks to fill Liz Truss’s new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, may still have to draw up spending cuts worth up to £40bn to convince markets the government can balance the books, experts warned after Friday’s humiliating U-turn. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Truss dropped a heavy hint of austerity to come, saying: “Our public sector will become more efficient, to deliver world-class services for the British people, and spending will grow less rapidly than previously planned.” Continue reading… ​Kwarteng’s replacement is warned…

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  Elon Musk’s company SpaceX will stop giving Ukraine free satellite internet, a service which helped Kyiv’s military stay online after internet networks were destroyed during the war. ​Elon Musk’s company SpaceX will stop giving Ukraine free satellite internet, a service which helped Kyiv’s military stay online after internet networks were destroyed during the war. 

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Turmoil in Tory party takes centre stage after unconvincing moves by an unrepentant Truss to fix her policy crisis How long Liz Truss can last as prime minister dominated the UK front pages on Saturday, after the sacking of her chancellor and a pledge to “see through” what she had promised failed to assuage either the markets or her own MPs. The Guardian calls it “a day of chaos”, as Kwasi Kwarteng lasts just 38 days in office and Truss is forced into a “humiliating” U-turn on a planned cut in corporation tax. It notes Truss’s press conference consisted of…

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