Truss claims UK recession may be averted

Good morning. Liz Truss, the Tory management frontrunner, claimed yesterday that she might avert a recession if she turned prime minister, because the Bank of England warned that Britain confronted a protracted downturn.

The UK overseas minister, who has promised speedy tax cuts if she wins, stated throughout a Sky News management debate that the BoE’s projected financial droop, which might final via subsequent yr, might but be averted.

“We can change the outcome and make it more likely the economy grows” — Liz Truss

Truss promised to reverse plans by her rival Rishi Sunak, the previous chancellor, to extend company tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent, whereas scrapping inexperienced levies on power payments and a nationwide insurance coverage rise.

Sunak is trailing Truss in all get together member opinion polls, with some pointing to a lead of 30 factors or extra. But after the Sky News debate, the viewers, in a present of fingers, considerably favoured Sunak.

The televised debate got here the identical day that the central financial institution raised rates of interest sharply by 0.5 share factors to 1.75 per cent and forecast inflation would hit 13 per cent by the tip of the yr.

The BoE’s gloomy view of the speedy financial outlook got here as a shock to analysts, who consider it needs to unleash a pointy downturn to curb surging inflation.

• Opinion: To stamp her authority in workplace, Truss ought to appoint a cupboard that represents the total spectrum of Tory views, writes Sebastian Payne.

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4. Russian court docket sentences Brittney Griner to 9 years in jail Prosecutors have sentenced the US basketball participant to 9 years in jail on prices of drug smuggling, elevating the stakes of a proposed prisoner swap that might embody Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

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The day forward

Erdoğan meets Putin Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin within the Black Sea resort of Sochi to debate navy co-operation. (Yahoo)

Economic knowledge In the UK, the Halifax month-to-month home value index is due. Analysts anticipate US job development in July to have continued at a powerful tempo, however slower than in June. The Federal Reserve publishes shopper credit score figures. (FT, WSJ)

Celebrations As properly as International Beer Day, Brighton’s streets shall be awash with glitter as one of many UK’s largest Pride occasions start at this time. The annual LGBT+ parade will see hundreds flock to the south coast.

What else we’re studying

Europe and Asia battle to safe gasoline provides The race to lock in liquefied pure gasoline provides for winter is elevating the dangers of an extra value surge, including gas to the price of residing disaster. Competition has intensified as Europe seeks to switch pure gasoline from Russia, growing strain on international locations resembling Japan and South Korea, the world’s second and third-biggest importers of LNG.

Britain’s anxious era Across the nation, schoolchildren this yr are most likely probably the most fragile, inadequately ready and sad group ever to gather A-level outcomes. Lucy Kellaway explains why, and what faculties are doing to sort out a looming psychological well being disaster.

In 50 years, will anybody reside in central Spain? You would suppose local weather change can be the highest precedence in a scorching dry nation, however in actual fact, Spaniards spend extra time arguing about nationwide unity, following the trauma of Catalonia’s unlawful independence referendum in 2017. Simon Kuper writes that world warming is threatening the world’s most habitable nation.

Ukrainian refugees counting on the kindness of strangers More than 6mn folks have fled since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds have shared their tales with the Financial Times of the anxiousness of fleeing a warfare zone, the issue of adjusting to unfamiliar international locations and their hopes for the longer term. Hardship, heartache and uncertainty had been constants, however so too had been acts of kindness.

Market rally delivers arduous classes Oh, poor fund managers. Why the lengthy faces? July was top-of-the-line months of all time. But it won’t be the rebound we’ve all been ready for. Too a lot cash has been tied up in a protected hidey gap and too little deployed on the upswing, writes Katie Martin.

Books

Acclaimed Pakistani-born novelist Mohsin Hamid lives in an imaginary homeland, one which he makes an attempt to grasp in books. He speaks with the FT on placelessness, “the art of politically engaged art” and his new ebook The Last White Man.