Pete Saull
Political Correspondent, BBC Westminster

Image source, Reuters

What would Conservative members like to hear from their leader?

Walking around the various stands and fringe events in the International Convention Centre, I’ve encountered a range of opinions about Liz Truss.

Many Conservatives point out that the prime minister’s only been in the job for a matter of weeks.

“We need to actually give her time, for heaven’s sake,” one woman tells me.

But others are worried about the start the PM’s made.

Asked what he’d like to hear in today’s speech, one member says, “We want to know that there’s a very clear, thought-out plan… We’ve still got to see some of it and some of the things we’ve seen this week have been cause for concern."

Another expresses disappointment about the recent U-turns: “People now think that if you shout loud enough you can change the government’s ideas… She needs to be a leader, not a follower.”

One woman calls for a firm commitment to the pensions triple lock. “Rishi promised it," she says, before admitting that she didn’t vote for Liz Truss and is yet to be won over.

“The rank and file were hoping this would be a coming-together and that seems to have gone on the backburner,” she adds.

Image source, Reuters

More now on benefits - one of the key conference talking points. Prime Minister Liz Truss has not guaranteed that payments will rise in line with inflation, despite calls from her colleagues to do so.

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown warns that "even contemplating" a decision to not lift benefits with rising prices would would mean the "biggest single cut in real terms of benefits in living memory".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Brown describes any such move as "anti-work, because 40% of those who would suffer are people on low pay".

He says it's also "anti-family, because five million children would be in poverty".

Listing a variety of different ways people on benefits have lost income over the last year, Brown says that families with two children will be about £40 worse off a week by next April.

"Now, that's a huge cut that no middle-income or low-income family can afford," he says.

Asked whether linking benefit uplift to wages rather than prices would be unfair on people in work, Brown points out that nearly half of people on benefits are in work but "can't make ends meet".

James Cleverly continues his morning media round with an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He's quizzed by host Nick Robinson about a conference row over benefits, and the government's U-turn on a plan to abolish the 45p tax rate for top earners.

The foreign secretary responds that Prime Minister Liz Truss ran a leadership campaign that represented an "unapologetically, relentlessly pro-growth agenda".

He adds: "When you are changing the way government has behaved for quite a long time, it will inevitably be a bit unsettling." He suggests that fluctuations in the value of the pound are "very similar" to phenomena witnessed with other currencies recently.

Cleverly says it's "deeply unfair" to suggest ministers aren't taking certain matters seriously, such as rising mortgage costs - and denies the PM has lost authority.

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A bit more from BBC Breakfast's interview with James Cleverly - who's given his full backing to the prime minister.

The foreign secretary insists Liz Truss will lead the Tory Party into the next election.

"I like the fact that she says what she's going to do, and then does what she says," Cleverly told the programme.

Asked about a warning from former cabinet minister Grant Shapps that the PM has little more than a week to save her leadership, Cleverly replied: "If people are saying, 'oh hang on a second, we need to see the fruits of [her policies] in 10 days', that is ridiculous."

Image source, Reuters

The foreign secretary has denied the annual Tory Party gathering has been overshadowed by infighting.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast a short time ago, James Cleverly addressed remarks made by his cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt.

Yesterday, the leader of the House of Commons maintained her stance that benefits should go up in line with inflation rather than earnings - something to which the prime minister has not committed.

"All cabinet colleagues ultimately are going to have to abide by collective responsibility," said Cleverly.

"No policy has been made yet, she's feeding ideas in."

The foreign secretary appeared to suggest that Mordaunt and others should avoid speaking out publicly.

"I think it's always better and easier to feed ideas - particularly when you're in government, when you have access to the chancellor and the prime minister - to feed ideas directly into the centre of the system."

He added: "Ultimately we have to make decisions that work for the UK.

"We have to make decisions that work for those people on benefits who need our support and also for the people who pay the taxes that fund our benefits and public services."

Margaret Thatcher "would never have tried" to cut benefits in the kind of economic crisis the UK is facing, former Brexit minister David Davis says.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he describes the UK's first female prime minister as "strategically terribly bold, but actually tactically incredibly careful", noting that Liz Truss "models herself on Thatcher".

The veteran backbencher also accuses the government of having made a "poor start" following the economic fallout from the mini-Budget on 23 September.

Davis says a real-terms benefits cut for the poorest is "not a real option" for the government "under these circumstances, with the winter coming up that we have".

The PM, he adds, needs to be "cautious" and listen to the concerns of "experienced" backbenchers who had served in government before.

"Take on the big issues, but do it carefully. Do it with some sense of caution, do it trying to meet the needs of the nation."

Davis points out that if many people "lost £10 a week from our wages it wouldn't bother us, but if you're on the breadline it would".

Yesterday the conference was dominated by Tory infighting among some MPs and members of the Cabinet.

It appeared to stem from remarks made by Suella Braverman who accused party colleagues of staging a "coup" to force the U-turn on the 45p tax cut for higher earners.

The home secretary's comments were backed publicly on Twitter by Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke.

However, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch told a fringe event the language around the word "coup" was "just too inflammatory".

"People should be able to change their minds without the world coming to an end," she told ConservativeHome.

One Tory backbench MP - Steve Double - took issue with Braverman's words and tweeted: "If this is the approach the cabinet take we are in for a bumpy ride."

Image source, EPA

Kevin Peachey
Personal finance correspondent

The so-called triple lock, which governs the annual rise in the state pension, has been featuring in discussions at the Conservative conference about benefits and pensions.

So what is it?

Each April, the amount state pensioners receive is increased in line with the highest of these three measures: the rate of inflation the previous September, the increase in earnings between May and July, or 2.5%.

This time, inflation - the rate at which prices are rising - will comfortably be the highest. We will get the exact, official figure in a couple of weeks, but it will be about 10%.

The government has committed to paying this increase in the state pension.

Last April, the normal triple-lock rules were suspended. The data for average earnings was widely considered to have been distorted owing to Covid and furlough, so that part was ignored, and the state pension rose in line with 3.1% inflation.

Nick Eardley
Reporting from Birmingham

Liz Truss will wake up this morning knowing her party is in turmoil: splits on tax policy, rows over benefits and cabinet ministers not toeing the line.

Just a month into her premiership, Truss is facing a critical moment already. It sounds incredible to say it, but there are already Tory MPs wondering how they might get rid of her.

The speech this morning will be a chance to try and get back on the front foot, to sell a vision to party and country.

Expect it to be focused on her economic pitch, accepting disruption as the price of economic growth.

She will also attack what she'll call an "anti-growth coalition" involving opposition parties and unions.

But remember when she speaks: there are many in her own party who are deeply sceptical of what she is offering.

Some are outright hostile. And delivering what she is promising won't be easy.

A dispute over benefits has been one of the features of the Conservative conference so far.

Government minister Penny Mordaunt says it "makes sense" for these to rise in line with prices - following a commitment from previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson that these will follow inflation.

However, current PM Liz Truss has not committed to that.

Various Tories have been voicing their views - one of whom is Eric Pickles.

The former Tory Party chairman told the BBC on Tuesday the government was unlikely to be able to win a vote in Parliament if it attempted to keep benefit rises below inflation.

Asked whether the government would not get significant backing for such a plan, Lord Pickles said: "Yeah, I think that's almost certain, but bearing in mind I've been proved wrong two or three times this week where things have gone in a different way."

Infighting within the Conservative Party around key policies announced in the government's mini-budget is the focus of many of today's front pages.

The Guardian carries claims some Tory MPs are trying to overthrow the government and oust Liz Truss as PM, describing the situation as "open warfare".

Truss's speech is also the focus for some papers. The Daily Express says she will tell party members there will be "disruption", but her government's economic plan will "build a better future".

You can read the main headlines from the papers here.

Image source, PA

In non-conference news, King Charles should attend the forthcoming climate change conference COP27, the president of last year's summit, who is also a member of Liz Truss's cabinet, has said.

Alok Sharma was responding to a report which claimed the prime minister had "ordered" the King not to attend.

Buckingham Palace later confirmed the King would not attend the summit in Egypt next month.

Sharma said the King had championed the environment for decades and other countries wanted him to attend.

"Of course, he is head of state in the United Kingdom but he is also head of state in other countries, some of which are very much on the front line of climate change," Sharma told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight programme.

Read more.

The main event of the day will be Liz Truss’s conference speech - her first as prime minister of the UK.

Following a turbulent few days for the party, she will be looking to inspire confidence in not just her leadership but also the markets following the economic fallout from her chancellor's mini-budget on 23 September.

She’ll acknowledge that her plans to reshape the country will cause "disruption" but insist there can be no more "drift and delay" in the effort to boost economic growth.

Truss is due to start speaking at around 11:00 BST.

Read more.

Image source, Reuters

It was a day marked by infighting over policy and party unity - here's a rundown of the main developments from yesterday:

• Prime Minister Liz Truss refused to commit to increasing benefits in line with inflation, as had been promised by her predecessor Boris Johnson. Penny Mordaunt, the leader of Commons, broke ranks to call for the increase to be honoured
• There was confusion over the publication date of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s medium-term fiscal plan, where he will set out how he plans to cut the UK's debt. After 24 hours of confusion, the Treasury confirmed it had brought forward the publication date of the long-awaited financial plans
• Home Secretary Suella Braverman sparked a row after she accused colleagues of staging a “coup” against Truss and Kwarteng over their now abandoned plan to cut the top rate of income tax. Fellow cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch criticised Braverman’s “inflammatory” language

Image source, EPA

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Conservative Party conference on its final day in Birmingham.

Liz Truss will be making her keynote speech, as well as her prime ministerial conference debut, following a bruising week marked by U-turns and internal division.

She'll use her speech to explain why she thinks the "disruption" caused by her economic policies will be worth it.

It comes amid a rift in cabinet over the suggestion that benefits may not rise in line with inflation, as Truss's predecessor Boris Johnson promised.

We'll also be hearing from Jake Berry, the party’s chairman, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi.

Stay with us for live news and analysis throughout the day.