Ground should have been laid for tax cuts, admits Liz Truss

Liz Truss has admitted she should have "laid the ground better" for her mini-budget, after it sparked days of market turmoil.

The PM told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg she had "learned from that", but she was confident her tax cutting package would boost economic growth.

She added a decision to cut the top earner tax rate was a "decision that the chancellor made".

And she said the move was not discussed with the whole cabinet beforehand.

Former minister Michael Gove said the cut to the 45p rate displayed the "wrong values," and signalled he wouldn't vote for it.

He also said he was "profoundly concerned" about the decision to borrow to fund the tax cuts, calling it "not Conservative".

In a bid to reassure markets, the government has said it will set out how it plans to lower public debt in the medium term on 23 November.

Pushed repeatedly on whether she planned to cut public spending, Ms Truss did not say, but added she wanted to get" value for money for the taxpayer".

She did not commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, saying that a decision would be made later this autumn.

In her BBC interview as the Conservative party conference gets under way in Birmingham, the prime minister promised to win "the hearts and minds" of Tory MPs over her growth plan.

She also rejected calls to bring forward an assessment of the government's plans from the UK's budget watchdog, currently due to be published alongside the debt plan.

She added that an assessment of the spending plans was "not yet ready".

"There's no point in publishing something that's not ready. That would just cause confusion," she added.