Starting proceedings, Kwasi Kwarteng talks about "what's worrying British people the most" - energy bills.

"We were never going to let energy bills rise as much as they could have," he says, before praising PM Liz Truss for acting swiftly to introduce the £2,500 price cap.

Kwarteng says it's "one of the biggest interventions ever made".

"Help is coming," he says.

The chancellor is up at the despatch box in House of Commons, about to deliver this "mini-budget".

Watch live by clicking the play button at the top of the page. And we'll bring you updates here.

Dharshini David
Global trade correspondent

All prime ministers promise to make us richer but Liz Truss is going for a different blueprint than those followed in the UK's recent past

Her theory is that cutting taxes for the better-off “trickles down” through spending and investment to benefit wider society by creating jobs and prosperity.

Trickle-down economics was beloved of Margaret Thatcher, America’s Ronald Reagan and more recently, Donald Trump.

But an extensive study by researchers at the London School of Economics claims tax cuts targeting those higher up on the income scale failed to significantly boost jobs or growth - but do increase income inequality.

"Trussonomics" also holds that tax cuts, by boosting growth, pay for themselves.

But Sir Charlie Bean - a former senior official responsible for vetting government budget plans - told me earlier this year when the idea was touted by others in the Conservative party that this outcome rarely happens, given the amount of growth needed to be generated.

In fact, he dismissed the theory as "one for the birds".

Parliament is full of curious traditions - and one of them allows chancellors to sip on an alcoholic drink at the despatch box to calm their nerves as they deliver the Budget.

However, the Commons authorities have confirmed to us that even if Kwarteng wanted to have his favourite tipple by his side this morning, he wouldn't be allowed.

That's because this isn’t technically a Budget - the government is labelling it a fiscal event.

Former UK Chancellors have favoured a range of different beverages - with Kenneth Clarke choosing whisky, Geoffrey Howe opting for gin and tonic and Nigel Lawson taking a spritzer.

However most recent chancellors have chosen water, including tee-totaller Rishi Sunak.

What do you want to know about the chancellor's announcements?published at 09:22 British Summer Time 23 September 2022

09:22 BST 23 September 2022

Image source, .

Kwasi Kwarteng is holding a so-called mini-budget today where he is set to unveil tax cuts and support to help with your energy bills.

And later, our experts will be answering your questions on what this all means for you.

This is your chance to ask us anything to help you make sense of the announcements – and no question is a silly question.

Send in any questions you have at the top of the page and we'll answer as many as we can.

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Reversing the National Insurance rise means someone earning £20,000 will get an additional £1.79 a week while a person on £100,000 will benefit from an additional £21 a week.

This is fair, according to levelling-up secretary Simon Clarke.

"If the UK economy is growing more strongly that is good for everybody because the tax take for the Exchequer will rise, reflecting better receipts and that is something which clearly we want to see happen," he says.

"There is fairness in stronger public services funded through a progressive taxation system which is what this country enjoys."

Clarke adds: "We have to break away from an analysis which is, at times, focused only on distribution and not on actually the size of the pie and this is something that has bedevilled the last 10 years. It has bedevilled our politics. In the end growth is a good thing for the whole of society and it will protect the living standards of those at all points on the income spectrum."

Kwasi Kwarteng is a long-time ally and political soulmate of new prime minister Liz Truss. We're going to hear his first major address as chancellor in the Commons at 09:30.

Age: 47

Place of birth: East London

Education: Trinity College, Cambridge University, Harvard University

Family: Married to solicitor Harriet Edwards with one daughter

Parliamentary constituency: Spelthorne (Surrey)

A Old Etonian, who became the first black Conservative cabinet minister in 2021, he has a double first from Cambridge University and a PhD in economic history. He is also a past winner of notoriously tough BBC quiz show University Challenge.

He's taken over at Number 11 Downing Street at a critical time for the UK economy, with inflation soaring, interest rates rising and the Bank of England forecasting that we are already in a recession.

He will not be short of support from his new Downing Street neighbour. One friend told the Times, external Kwarteng and Truss were a bit like "Batman and Robin", adding: "They are both slight social misfits, amiable geeks, and have strong views which are in tune with each other."

Read more about Kwasi Kwarteng here

Image source, PA Media

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is on his way to the Treasury Department where he will soon deliver his mini-budget.

Stay with us as we bring you the live updates.

Chris Mason
Political editor

The three key themes today will be:

• Growth
• Tax
• Regulation

And in terms of specifics, we're expecting:

• A cut to National Insurance (already announced for November)
• A cut to Corporation Tax
• A removal of the cap on bankers' bonuses
• 38 new so-called 'Investment Zones' in England, with specific tax cuts and liberalised planning rules. Expect them in the West Midlands, the Tees Valley, Somerset and Hull among other places
• A cut to Stamp Duty in England - raising the threshold of how much a place has to cost before you pay it

And then, on a day like this, there is talk of rabbits coming out of hats. Fluffy ears and millinery. Surprises. I just wonder if there might be a cut in income tax too. The whispers about it in government keep creeping into my ears. We'll soon find out.

Image source, Getty Images

The government is thought to be considering cutting stamp duty tax as part of the mini-budget.

The tax affects people planning to buy a property - it only applies in England and Northern Ireland.

Instead of paying a single rate on the whole property price, the amount of stamp duty you owe depends on how much the property costs.

You pay none on the first £125,000 (or the first £300,000 if you are an individual first-time buyer).

For example, if you bought a house for £295,000, the amount of stamp duty would be:

• 0% on the first £125,000 = £0
• 2% on the next £125,000 = £2,500
• 5% on the final £45,000 = £2,250
• Total stamp duty = £4,750

Read all about stamp duty here

Image source, Getty Images

Simon Clarke appears to agree with Labour's Pat McFadden about the government returning to old-style Tory policies (see our earlier post.)

The levelling-up secretary, who was number two to Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, tells the BBC:

"With a new government comes new prerogatives. I backed Liz [Truss] during the leadership campaign precisely because I believe that there is an opportunity for a new approach, one driven by a much more Conservative policy frankly of lowering the burden of tax on businesses and families and making sure we get back to a much more dynamic economy."

Clarke also says that Sunak's successor, Kwasi Kwarteng, will today set out "how he intends to galvanise a better underlying growth rate than we've seen for many years and indeed since the financial crisis in 2008".

It has been 14 years since the global financial crisis and the Conservative party has been in power for 12 of those.

Chris Mason
Political editor

Westminster has been flailing around in awkward contortions trying to work out what to call this thing we'll hear from the chancellor at 9:30.

Some called it a 'fiscal event.' Urgh. Ugly language.

Then some started calling it a 'mini-budget.' Well, okay, it won't involve Kwasi Kwarteng waving his red box around on the doorstep of 11 Downing Street.

And it won't involve 22p extra on a packet of fags.

But this is a big deal – and a bigger deal than most actual Budgets.

It is big politically, big economically and big in terms of a change in direction.

We'll see the chancellor outside his door at around 9:00 with his blue covered September Statement, his Growth Plan.

It is 20-30 pages long, with 30 distinct measures I'm told.

The government has already confirmed it will let people keep more of their earnings by reversing the increase in National Insurance.

Other measures could include:

• scrapping a planned increase in the amount of tax companies pay on their profits
• possible cuts to other taxes, including stamp duty which is paid on house purchases
• ending the cap on bankers' bonuses
• tightening the rules around universal credit
• plans to boost economic growth, such as creating low-tax zones around the UK

The tax-cutting plans under consideration could cost at least £30bn.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden says reversing the National Insurance rise is the "legislative equivalent of digging a hole and filling it back in again".

The government is taking "an enormous gamble" with public finances by funding the measures through borrowing, he tells BBC's Breakfast.

"It's a return to some very old style Tory tax policies based on the belief that if you make those that are already wealthy even wealthier it will somehow trickle down to the rest of us," McFadden says.

McFadden adds the government "looks like they're not trying to raise any revenue at all" for the plan.

We already know the government is going to reverse the 1.25% rise in National Insurance that came in last April, as well as axe a planned levy to fund health and social care.

PM Liz Truss had pledged to change it during her leadership race and we've now been told that will happen from 6 November.

Image source, .

The funding for health and social care will now come from general taxation.

The Treasury said the change would save nearly 28 million people an average of £330 per year.

Read more about what the reversal means here

Eleanor Lawrie & Michael Buchanan
BBC Social Affairs Team

Chrissie Thornton, 57, has custody of her two grandchildren, one of whom is disabled. She also helps to run a group for disabled children in Leeds.

What does she want from today's mini-budget?

"I'm hoping they will make life a lot easier for us," she says. "Especially on the disabled side of things.

"Whether it’s towards the cost of heating, or prescriptions, anything that will help our everyday life is a bonus."

Chrissie has already been forced to cut back - "half the time I don’t eat because I want to feed the kids" - and she is wary of being derailed by an unexpected bill.

"With universal credit, you get paid every five weeks," she says. "How can you make sure your shopping lasts for five weeks and your energy bills? If you’ve spent all your money on an energy bill what do you do if your children need a new pair of shoes or a new coat?"

One of the ways this mini-budget is unlike an official autumn Budget is that there is no forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The OBR gives independent advice to the government and normally publishes its own analysis of the policies the government is proposing. It sets out the cost of new policies, how much tax will be raised and what it means for the economy.

However, the government is refusing to publish the OBR's assessment alongside the mini-budget.

Hillary Ingham, professor of economics at Lancaster University's Management School, told the BBC's Today programme it was "interesting" that no OBR analysis had been published.

"We are not getting any of that, obviously the government will argue this is not a budget," she said.

"It's a big giveaway whatever you want to call it but we are not getting that extra independent, if you like, evaluation of these policies they are going to get in place."

Image source, PA Media

Later this morning we'll get a mini-budget - a package of measures, drawn up by Liz Truss’s government, with the aim of boosting economic growth.

It was promised by Liz Truss during her successful campaign for the Tory leadership, and will be delivered by new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

He is also expected to outline how much it will cost the government to help households and businesses with their energy bills.

It is thought these costs could exceed £150bn.

It’s not a full Budget – that’ll be due later this year.

Instead, the government are calling it a "fiscal event".

Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent

Today is the new government telling us all economic plans have changed. Gone are higher taxes to pay for public services. Instead, the new regime is focussed on cutting tax and regulations (although remember, the party in power hasn’t changed).

This is likely to be the biggest tax cutting event since 1988, according to experts.

We know national insurance rises are being reversed, corporation tax increases are being cancelled.

It's likely there will be changes to stamp duty in England, meaning people pay less tax on home purchases. There have been conversations in Conservatives circles about changes to income tax - details haven’t been confirmed but it's one to watch later.

There will be changes to regulation too; liberalised planning rules in allocated investment zones and it’s likely the cap on bankers bonuses will be officially lifted.

This is a big moment for the country and the economy. But it's also a gamble; some economists are far from certain that it'll be a success. Opposition parties and some conservatives think the priorities are all wrong.

But this is a course of action the new government is determined to pursue. The new chancellor will say later: "We need a new approach for a new era focused on growth."

Eleanor Lawrie & Michael Buchanan
BBC Social Affairs Team

Pauline Burrow has worked at Meeting Point in Harehills, Leeds for 28 years and she's doubtful that Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will announce much today that will benefit her - or the people she serves at the community cafe.

"People in this area are really struggling right now, I've never known it so bad," she tells the BBC. "They're worried about where the next meal is coming from and how they are going to pay their bills and feed their children."

She is feeling the pinch herself, not least because of successive interest rate rises. "[My] mortgage is interest-based and it’s gone up twice recently by £100. It's going to be a nightmare - I’m dreading it.”

So does she think the mini-budget will help her? "Not really, unless it’s going to give me a few extra quid in my pocket."