Watch: Business Secretary Jacob Rees Mogg jeered at Conservative Party Conference protests in Birmingham

A cost of living and climate protest gets underway in Victoria Square on day one of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham
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Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg was greeted with loud jeers by hundreds of protesters at the was greeted with loud jeers by hundreds of protesters in Birmingham.

The Conservative MP was escorted by police officers as he walked across Victoria Square, where demonstrators gathered to demonstrate against the Government tax cuts and climate crisis as the Tory conference gets underway at the ICC.

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The crowd pursued him, jeering and booing, with some shouting “Tory scum”.

Demonstrators furious at Liz Truss’s economic plan carried signs reading “unelected, unaccountable, unhinged” and “wages up, bills down, Tories out”.

Mr Rees Mogg played down the protests as a “fact of democracy”. Speaking to Sky News while being escorted through the crowd by police officers, he said: “There have been protests at Tory conferences since time immemorial, it’s nothing new.

“It’s a fact of democracy. They’re shouting but it’s perfectly peaceful. And the right to peaceful expression of your view is fundamental to our constitution.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg is escorted by police at the Conservative Party annual conference (PA)Jacob Rees-Mogg is escorted by police at the Conservative Party annual conference (PA)
Jacob Rees-Mogg is escorted by police at the Conservative Party annual conference (PA)
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Protesters in Birmingham have also expressed their anger over Liz Truss’s tax cuts for the richest. Jane Elledge, 53, an IT trainer from Bromsgrove, said: “Enough is enough really. We’ve had Brexit, we’ve had falling standards, we’ve had people having to work two jobs, people starving, people with no heating and just the kind of final straw is the announcement of the richest people getting a tax cut.

“Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. We get nothing, nothing for the working people. It’s got to stop. Tories out.”

Mick, who did not want to give his surname, described the Government’s mini-budget as “disastrous for normal people”. The 58-year-old from Birmingham, who carried a “Tory lies kill” placard, said: “It’s just the start though. The next step is to balance the books again, they’re going to cut public services even further. They disgust me”.

As speakers took to the stage, demonstrators chanted “Tories are not welcome here” and “Tory scum out of Brum”.

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Organised by the People’s Assembly campaign group, it was part of a wave of protests sweeping the country amid rising energy costs and falling living standards.

Police officers hold back members of the public as Jacob Rees-Mogg arrives (PA)Police officers hold back members of the public as Jacob Rees-Mogg arrives (PA)
Police officers hold back members of the public as Jacob Rees-Mogg arrives (PA)

What has Prime Minister Liz Truss said about her constroversial tax cuts?

Speaking ahead of the conference, Ms Truss said she is standing by her tax-cutting plan as she refused to rule out public spending cuts.

“I do want to say to people I understand their worries about what has happened this week,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

“I do stand by the package we announced and I stand by the fact we announced it quickly, because we had to act”.

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She admitted she should have “laid the ground better” for Kwasi Kwarteng’s financial statement, and said the Chancellor had made the decision to cut income tax for the richest.

Some Tory MPs are giving the Conservative Party Conference 2022 a miss (image: Getty Images)Some Tory MPs are giving the Conservative Party Conference 2022 a miss (image: Getty Images)
Some Tory MPs are giving the Conservative Party Conference 2022 a miss (image: Getty Images)

Conservative party members speak out about Liz Truss’s economics and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget

Earlier a Tory party member told reporters: “It’s going to be a rocky Conservative Party Confreence”.

Daniel Pitt from Erewash, a Conservative Party member for seven years, told reporters: “I think it’s going to be a rocky conference. Definitely. The Prime Minister has to try and steady the ship.”

On the mini-budget, he said: “The policies on the whole, you could argue are a good thing. But the timing was wrong. I would have different priorities. I would have preferred a bigger reduction in tax in the basic income. If you’re taking 5% off the top, but 1% of the basic, that doesn’t add up as far as I’m concerned.

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“And also these should be done sequentially. And I think reducing the top rate of tax during the cost of living is not the right priority.”

Mr Pitt, a Boris Johnson supporter, insisted there should have not been a leadership contest, saying: “I don’t think there should have a leadership election full stop. I decided who I was going to vote for when we had the final two, and it just wasn’t going to be Rishi. It’s a Thatcher moment. Lots of people are still angry about getting rid of Boris.”

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mog is escorted by police officers at the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in BirminghamBusiness Secretary Jacob Rees-Mog is escorted by police officers at the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham
Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mog is escorted by police officers at the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham

Former cabinet minister Michael Gove said Liz Truss’ plans had “the wrong values” and hinted he could vote against them in the Commons.

He told the BBC the Prime Minister was right to acknowledge that the events of the mini-budget “need to be revisited, there needs to be a recognition of mistakes”.

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“But it is still the case that there is an inadequate realisation at the top of government about the scale of change required,” he said.

“Yes, the energy package was the most important thing in the fiscal event, but broadly 35% of the additional money that we are borrowing is not to cut energy costs, it is for unfunded tax cuts.”

Former cabinet minister Michael Gove told the BBC there were “two major things” that were problematic with the plans set out by the Prime Minister and Chancellor: “The first is the sheer risk of using borrowed money to fund tax cuts. That’s not Conservative.

“The second thing is the decision to cut the 45p rate (of income tax) and indeed at the same time to change the law which governs how bankers are paid in the City of London.

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“Ultimately, at a time when people are suffering,and you are quite right to point out the concerns people have not just over mortgages but over benefits, when you have additional billions of pounds in play, to have as your principle decision, the headline tax move, cutting tax for the wealthiest, that is a display of the wrong values.”

Pressed on whether he would vote for the measures in the Commons, he said: “I don’t believe it’s right.”

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