Month: October 2022

Mr Putin appeared to make a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons to defend the new annexed territories.

He declared that the regions would “forever” be part of Russia.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the annexation “the most serious escalation since the start of the war”.

In a speech, the Russian leader claimed citizens in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk had voted to be “with their people, their motherland”.

He was referring to so-called referendums held in the regions in recent days, but Ukraine and Western governments have condemned the votes as a sham.

But much of Mr Putin’s speech was used to rail at the West.

He said the US had created a “precedent” by using nuclear weapons against Japan at the end of World War Two, in an apparent threat.

Mr Putin last week said his country had “various weapons of destruction” and would “use all the means available to us”, adding: “I’m not bluffing.”

The Kremlin has made clear that any attack on the newly annexed regions would be seen as an attack on Russian soil, signalling an escalation in the war.

President Biden called out his Russian counterpart’s “reckless words and threats”, but added that Mr Putin was “not going to scare us”.

“America and its allies are not going to be intimidated,” President Biden said at the White House.

He then addressed the Russian president directly, pointing his finger into the camera.

“America’s fully prepared, with our Nato allies, to defend every single inch of Nato territory,” he said, in reference to the Western security bloc.

“Mr Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: every inch.”

Shortly after, Mr Biden’s top national security official said while there was a chance of Moscow resorting to nuclear weapons, there did not appear to be an imminent threat.

Ukraine launched a new, fast-track bid to join Nato soon after Mr Putin’s speech.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had long been a “de facto” member of the security bloc and accused Moscow of redrawing borders “using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies”.

Mr Stoltenberg of Nato was reluctant to be drawn on the bid, saying the decision rested with the bloc’s 30 members.

The alliance’s members “do not and will not” recognise any of the annexed territory as part of Russia, Mr Stoltenberg told reporters, accusing Mr Putin of “irresponsible nuclear sabre-rattling”.

He called the annexation a “pivotal moment” in the war.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “the illegal annexation proclaimed by Putin won’t change anything”.

“All territories illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land and will always be part of this sovereign nation.”

South Korea said it did not recognise the annexations, adding that Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial security and independence must be protected.

As Mr Putin spoke in Moscow, 750km (466 miles) to the south, his forces were being surrounded by Ukrainian troops in Lyman, a strategically important town in the eastern province of Donetsk – one of four regions annexed by Russia.

Ukraine’s military has been keen to conceal the pace of its troops’ advance in the area, but one video on social media appeared to show Kyiv’s forces in the centre of Yampil, just 16km (9 miles) south-east of Lyman.

And late on Friday night, Kyiv’s defence ministry said it had taken the village of Drobysheve, 8km (4 miles) north-west of Lyman.

Elsewhere, in Zaporizhzhia some 30 Ukrainians were killed in a Russian rocket strike on a civilian convoy.

At the same time, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which would have condemned its annexation of the four occupied regions. Moscow’s ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, complained that it was unprecedented to seek the condemnation of a permanent member of the body.

While the Kremlin’s blocking of the motion was anticipated, both India and China abstained.

RMT members are staging their latest walkout in a dispute with Network Rail over pay, jobs and conditions.

It comes as talks go on between the union and ScotRail after the RMT rejected a 5% pay rise.

Only 20% of ScotRail services will run on Saturday between 07:30 and 18:30 in the central belt, Borders and Fife.

No trains will run elsewhere on the ScotRail network.

Cross-border services will also be affected, with no trains running on the Avanti West Coast line and LNER scrapping services to and from Edinburgh.

This dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, but the operator relies on Network Rail workers to operate signal boxes and maintain the track.

However, ScotRail workers could stage their own 24-hour strike on 10 October if ongoing talks with the RMT do not bring about an agreement.

The union has described the 5% pay offer from ScotRail as an effective wage cut for its members because of the soaring rate of inflation.

Gordon Martin, the RMT’s regional organiser for Scotland, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday that he expected 40,000 members to join Saturday’s strike action.

He said: “This is a significant number of workers. While there are pay freezes being imposed on them, the bosses and the bankers are getting income tax reductions and bonuses.

“So a bit of fairness in society is required here.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch previously said ScotRail knew the 5% offer was not good enough and did not take into account the escalating cost of living crisis.

He added: “Our members refuse to be made poorer and will exercise their industrial strength to let ScotRail know that they will not rest until they are paid what they deserve.”

ScotRail’s operations director David Simpson urged passengers to check the operator’s website before making Saturday travel plans.

He told Good Morning Scotland: “We will be operating just under 400 services – that’s about a fifth of our normal service on a Saturday.

“Those services will be mainly through the central belt around Glasgow, down towards the Borders and out to Cowdenbeath and Fife but over a very limited time.

“So with many fewer services than usual running less frequently than usual, the advice is very much, if you’re going to travel check the journey in advance and plan ahead.”

Writing in The Sun, she said she had “acted decisively” and would keep an “iron grip” on the nation’s finances.

The government unveiled £45bn of tax cuts funded by borrowing last week – but did not accompany it with the usual economic assessment of the plans.

That worried investors causing the pound to slump and forcing the Bank of England to step in to reassure markets.

Ms Truss has resisted calls to reverse the cuts or to bring forward publication of the independent fiscal watchdog’s economic forecasts and analysis of her tax plans.

The prime minister said she was “committed” to publishing the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast on 23 November, the same day the chancellor is due to set out further economic plans, after she met the OBR on Friday.

But some Conservative MPs want to see this sooner to reassure the financial markets after turbulent trading.

The Treasury argues it should wait until additional changes are announced.

Ms Truss wrote in the Sun: “I am going to do things differently. It involves difficult decisions and does involve disruption in the short term.”

She reiterated her commitment to “get the economy growing”, with plans to stimulate growth expected to include measures in eight areas – business regulation, agriculture, housing and planning, immigration, mobile and broadband, financial services, childcare and energy.

And she insisted she would maintain an “iron grip on the national finances”.

Her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, insisted that November’s statement would include a “credible plan” to get the public finances back on track, with a “commitment to spending discipline”.

“The British taxpayer expects their government to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, and we will deliver on that expectation,” Mr Kwarteng said.

But senior minister Simon Clarke told the Times newspaper the government needed to explain more about how it would control spending, as well as boosting economic growth.

“We have acquired spending habits that outstrip our ability to pay for it. That needs to change,” he said.

He suggested the government was looking to make significant cuts and “trim the fat” when it comes to public spending.

“I think it is important that we look at a state which is extremely large, and look at how we can make sure that it is in full alignment with a lower tax economy.”

Ms Truss confirmed on Thursday that she was looking for cuts across government as a way to pay for the mini-budget measures.

Waveney MP Peter Aldous said the timing of last Friday’s plan had been “hopelessly wrong”, and the rest of the details should be brought forward to October.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey argued that the government, by waiting until 23 November, was allowing the UK economy to “fly blind” for two months.

“Families and businesses can’t afford to wait any longer for this government to fix their botched, unfair budget,” he said.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is the independent watchdog for the government’s finances.

It usually produces economic forecasts twice a year, to accompany each autumn budget and spring statement.

It scrutinises government plans, to increase taxes or borrowing for example, and predicts what the likely impact on the overall economy will be.

These forecasts are so important because a strong one gives investors confidence to put money into the UK economy – whereas a weak one is likely to have the opposite effect.

The government can request forecasts from the OBR at any time to get independent advice on big moves.

But it did not take the OBR up on its offer ahead of last week’s mini-budget. This is thought to have undermined confidence in the markets.

This led to the pound dropping to its lowest rate against the dollar in 37 years on Monday, before returning to its previous level.

The government’s tax-cutting plan faced criticism from the International Monetary Fund, and the pound dropped to a 37-year low of $1.03 on Monday.

On Friday, sterling rose to $1.12 – close to the level the currency was at before the mini-budget was announced.

Despite that, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut the outlook for its AA credit rating for British government debt from “stable” to “negative” on Friday, because of the prospect of higher borrowing needed to fund the pledges.

In recent days, the Conservatives have posted some of their worst opinion poll ratings in more than 20 years.

A poll published on Thursday by Survation put the party on 28%, more than 21 points behind Labour, while a separate survey by YouGov put the Tories on 21%, 33 points adrift.

Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said ministers should “get back to Parliament, revoke the changes, and start again to try and rebuild confidence”.

And Conservative MP Martin Vickers urged the prime minister not to scrap the 45p tax rate and the bankers’ bonus cap, describing the move as “a political own goal”.

However, another Tory backbencher, Andrea Leadsom, said the mini-budget was “unashamedly pro-growth”, and that the markets were “wrong to be jittery” about the changes.