Liz Truss to dodge Starmer’s questions, sending Penny Mordaunt instead

Embattled Prime Minister Liz Truss is dodging questions in the House of Commons sending the woman she pipped to be Tory leader in her stead.

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt will respond to Labour’s Commons question on Truss’s behalf at 3.30pm, Downing Street has confirmed.

The Prime Minister’s decision to send Mordaunt, her leadership rival, is likely to raise further questions about her authority.

Truss’ position as Prime Minister appears in danger and she has not spoken publicly since her eight-minute press conference on Friday after sacking her chancellor.

Quite a lot has happened since then, including the almost wholesale reversal of her tax-slashing economic plan.

The urgent question, in the name of Sir Keir Starmer, on the economic situation is directed to the Prime Minister after she refused to come to the House after the sacking on Friday of Kwasi Kwarteng.

It reads: “To ask the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the replacement of the chancellor of the exchequer during the current economic situation.”

It comes after new chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a near-total reversal of Truss and Kwas Kwarteng’s economic policy.

Hunt announced energy bill help for all households across the country will be cut short as he confirmed U-turns on almost all tax cuts in the mini-budget.

He said support for families facing soaring gas and electricity prices would only last until April with a review to look at a “new approach” to target support at those worst off after that.

In an emergency statement on Monday morning he said: “We will reverse almost all the tax measures announced in the growth plan three weeks ago that have not started parliamentary legislation.”

The pound has strengthened and UK Government bonds have rallied in the wake of Hunt’s plans to shave off billions of Treasury debt.

But the U-turns have seemingly done little to quash growing disquiet within the party, with MPs Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen and Jamie Wallis calling for her resignation on Sunday.