The prime minister will hold a press conference later today.

It comes as speculation builds about a potential U-turn on the mini-budget.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's plane has landed at London's Heathrow airport.

Kwarteng cut short his meetings in the US to catch a flight back to London from Washington for urgent talks with Prime Minister Liz Truss today.

He will be heading to Westminster shortly amid speculation a mini-budget U-turn is coming.

We're all poised for Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's plane to land any moment after he cut short his trip to Washington where he was meeting other finance ministers.

Earlier this morning, Conservative Peer Lord Vaizey described Kwarteng ending his trip a day early as "quite unusual".

"It's not a good sign, it does not look like the government is in control", he told Sky News.

But he dismissed suggestions of another Conservative leadership change, saying the party would not be able to stand it. He also said he had not heard about the reported plot taking place to remove Truss and replace her with Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.

Lord Vaizey added that the mood in the party was "relatively bleak, in the sense that this is a self-inflicted wound".

Andrew Sinclair
BBC East political correspondent

Prime Minister Liz Truss has cancelled a series of visits in her South West Norfolk constituency today to stay in London and concentrate on the crisis surrounding her mini-budget, the BBC understands.

Truss had been expected to attend two business meetings in Norfolk, where she was planning to focus on investment zones and growth.

Rumours continue to swirl over which parts of the chancellor's tax-cutting mini-budget from 23 September could be ditched.

Here's a look at some of the key commitments made at the time by Kwasi Kwarteng:

• There is speculation the government could change course on corporation tax. This levy on company profits had been due to rise from 19% to 25% next year until Kwarteng announced it would remain frozen during his mini-budget. But there are suggestions the government may now allow this to rise in what would be a major U-turn
• Ministers have already rowed back on a plan to abolish the upper rate of income tax, which sees the highest-paid charged 45p on every pound
• The mini-budget also pledged to reverse a recent rise in National Insurance, under which workers and employers have paid an extra 1.25p in the pound
• And there was a promise to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19% from next April
• Other pledges included cutting stamp duty for people buying properties in England and Northern Ireland, and lifting a cap on bankers' bonuses

Read more on what was in the mini-budget and how it's changed here.

The Conservative Party should be "hanging its head in shame" over the economic chaos the UK is experiencing, former shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband has said.

The former Labour leader told Sky News earlier that the government is "in meltdown" with its flagship economic policy of tax cuts "in tatters".

"This is about people's livelihoods, people's homes, people's mortgages," he said.

Miliband criticised the government for embarking on a strategy of "massive tax cuts for the richest in society, for big corporations, so-called trickle-down economics", as well as for "trashing the economic institutions of this country, like the Office for Budget Responsibility".

He said the government's policies had triggered a widespread "loss of confidence" among the UK's financial markets, adding that "the budget has got to be ripped up" to resolve this.

Image source, Flightradar

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's flight is due to land at London's Heathrow airport in less than an hour, according to the flight tracker Flightradar24.

Kwarteng cut short his visit to the US to catch the last flight back to London from Washington for urgent talks with the prime minister today.

The BBC has confirmed Kwarteng is on this flight, external.

He is expected to land at 10:38 BST.

Government bonds and the pound have bounced back at the start of London trading this morning as the news of the chancellor's early return from Washington was taken as a signal of an impending U-turn on tax plans laid out in the mini-budget last month.

Yields on UK government bonds - known as gilts - had surged, raising the cost of borrowing, after Kwasi Kwarteng announced his tax-cutting plans last month.

On market opening this morning, yields on UK 30-year gilts fell back by 1.6% to 4.47%, while 10-year gilt yields moved 1.8% lower to 4.11%.

Meanwhile, the pound was 0.3% higher at 1.127 against the US dollar as trading sentiment improved.

The blue-chip share index FTSE 100 also climbed, rising 1% to 6,918 in early morning trading.

You can read more on how and why the government borrows money here.

Chancellor's career on the rim of the binpublished at 09:19 British Summer Time 14 October 2022

09:19 BST 14 October 2022

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Simon Walker / HM Treasury

At a time when the UK’s international financial credibility is on the line, the chancellor concluded it was a better option to bail out early of a gathering of finance ministers, at the world’s financial institutions in Washington, than stay put.

Why? Because 3,600 miles away, the prime minister was in discussions with Conservative MPs and others - their entire joint programme for government hovering above the shredder.

I’m told Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were in touch yesterday and it was his decision to make a dash for it to come home early.

He does so knowing that the centrepiece of his few short days as chancellor sits on the rim of the bin, as does his reputation and his career.

Tory MPs at every level of the party are suggesting he could be out of his job soon too.

But earlier, a Downing Street source told me that "the chancellor is doing an excellent job and they [the PM and chancellor] are in lockstep".

So does Truss want him to continue in the job in the coming months? "Yes", is the answer.

It is going to be a very interesting day in Westminster. It would not be a surprise if an almighty U-turn happens and happens today.

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has hit out at reports that a plot to remove Liz Truss as prime minister is being led by Conservative "grandees" - describing it as an attempt to "overturn democracy".

Dorries was responding to a report in The Times, external, which said Tories were discussing the possibility of replacing Truss with her leadership contest rivals Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, who is now leader of the House of Commons.

Dorries says, external: "Those absurdly called grandee MPs (men) agitating to remove Liz Truss are all Sunak supporters. They agitated to remove Boris Johnson and now they will continue plotting until they get their way.

"It's a plot not to remove a PM but to overturn democracy."

Less than two weeks ago, Dorries, who backed Truss in the leadership contest, said the new PM and her government had "no mandate from the people" to change policies set out in the party's 2019 manifesto.

More from trade minister Greg Hands, who says the rally in the UK's financial markets yesterday and this morning could be for "any number of different reasons".

The pound has risen against the dollar and yields have been coming down on government bonds - known as gilts - meaning the cost of borrowing for the government has lowered.

Asked if Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, is wrong to say they are reacting to assumption that the government will U-turn soon on its mini-budget, the minister declines to answer.

Hands cites the Japanese Yen hitting a 30-year low against the US dollar and the euro performing as poorly as the pound as other reasons that could have caused the rally.

He cites his own experience in working in financial services and argues they "behave the way they do based on information that comes into them from a multitude of different sources".

"It's not a UK only thing," Hands tells the Today programme.

Pushed on whether the country would be better off if his preferred candidate Rishi Sunak had become prime minister, Hands says "no" and calls on the Conservative Party to "unite behind" Liz Truss.

Lord William Hague, former Conservative leader, has told the BBC he has never seen anything like the current political turbulence engulfing Liz Truss's government.

He tells the Today programme there have been budgets in the past that have caused shock, but none have created a crisis of confidence in financial markets like Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget.

Commenting on the the prime minister's authority, he says it's "obviously damaged" and it is clear that there is a lot of discontent across the Tory party.

Lord Hague adds that the only way to "square the financial circle" is to roll back on some of the policies announced in the mini-budget.

Image source, Simon Walker / HM Treasury

A minister has said he is not expecting a U-turn on the government's mini-budget and one is not necessary.

Greg Hands insisted the government is making preparations for the chancellor's statement due on 31 October, which will show how the government will get the UK's finances "under control".

Presented with a tweet he wrote over the summer arguing against borrowing to pay for tax cuts, Greg Hands - who supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership campaign - is asked what has changed since then by Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In response, the trade minister says the world has changed a lot since the summer, when that debate was taking place.

Hands adds the "decisive" and necessary capping of energy prices in the government's plans was the "centrepiece" of the announced spending.

Financial markets are "pricing in a U-turn" on the government's mini-budget, Russ Mould, an investment director at AJ Bell, has told the BBC.

"They started to [price it in] yesterday," he told the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme earlier.

"Gilt yields came down, the key benchmark is the two-year, 10-year, 30-year paper, and sterling rose against the dollar to 1.13 and against the Euro to 1.16, so I think they are starting to either expect, demand, sniff out that there will be some degree of U-turn, possibly on corporation tax, dividend tax, other areas.

"But we'll have to see what the chancellor says, given that his official position at the moment is that he - and the prime minister - are not for turning."

Asked what happens if there isn't a U-turn, he said: "You would expect the gains that we've started to see, to unwind."

Chris Mason
Political editor

A No 10 source has told the BBC the prime minister thinks the chancellor is "doing an excellent job and they are in lockstep".When asked if Liz Truss wants Kwasi Kwarteng to continue in the job in the coming months, the source said "yes".

Treasury sources look brokenpublished at 08:05 British Summer Time 14 October 2022

08:05 BST 14 October 2022

Nick Watt
Political editor, BBC Newsnight

It feels very much like a U-turn on the mini-Budget is going to happen, but talking to people in the Treasury they're saying "no, we're going ahead".

They insist that the chancellor will be making his statement on 31 October, no change until then and that statement will be all about setting out how they're going to pay for these tax cuts.

But when you talk to these Treasury sources, I do have to say they look broken, they look dead in the eye.

And it very well looks like they have lost an almighty argument within government, which looks like there has to be a pretty significant U-turn on core element of this mini-budget.

It was Downing Street that took the lead at abandoning the cuts to the 45p top rate of income tax and it looks like it's No 10 in the lead for making a big change on corporation tax.

There is a widespread expectation in government that there is going to be a very significant change, you talk to ministers and they said this is absolutely what they expect to happen.

Image source, Getty Images

The pound has risen as speculation mounts about a possible U-turn over the mini-budget.

Sterling traded above $1.13 against the dollar on Friday morning, as the chancellor headed home early from the US for urgent talks in Downing Street.

The currency hit a record low of $1.03 in September after markets reacted badly to Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget.

In it he promised billions of pounds of tax cuts but did not explain how he would fund them.

Government borrowing costs have also fallen, after surging in the days after the mini-budget.

You can read the full story here.

A U-turn on tax cuts is needed as a "powerful" signal to the markets that the government's "fiscal credibility is now firmly back on the table", Chair of the Treasury Select Committee Mel Stride has said.

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that this means doing something "very significant" now and not waiting until the end of the month, when Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is due to lay out his plans to pay for proposed tax cuts.

Stride says "right at the heart" of any changes must be an "unwinding" of plans to prevent a scheduled rise in corporation tax, and he warns against any attempt to "nibble at the edges" of changes.

Asked if he thought Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's return would panic or calm the markets, Stride says "on balance reassure".

But Stride adds the UK finds itself in "a world here where we're trying to find the least bad of some very bad options" and emphasises "there is no button you can press that will make everything magically become immediately OK".

Asked about the chancellor's position, the senior Tory backbencher says it's critical the Conservative Party gives the chancellor and the prime minister a "little more time" and the space to "reset".

More now from trade minister Greg Hands who was asked about reports in The Times that senior Conservative members are holding talks about replacing Liz Truss with Penny Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak.

Hands tells Sky News: "I don't recognise that story at all. I was a supporter of Rishi Sunak over the summer, I'd be very surprised at that story. I was talking only yesterday with Penny Mordaunt. I don't recognise that story at all."

He adds that the Conservative Party needs to "unite behind our prime minister".

"She was our choice of the Conservative party just a few weeks ago", he says.

Asked if Truss and Kwarteng will still be in their positions in one month, Hands adds: "Yes, absolutely."

Tax U-turn tax might steady markets but would be politically damagingpublished at 07:35 British Summer Time 14 October 2022

07:35 BST 14 October 2022

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Nothing is inevitable in politics, but if the markets are expecting a U-turn and there isn't one, then the situation could get worse both politically and economically for the prime minister.

I don't think we're going to see a complete unpicking of the mini-budget from last month but, as we've been hearing, one of the possible U-turns would be over corporation tax.

Rishi Sunak wanted to put corporation tax up from 19% to 25% from next year, and it was a central plank of Liz Truss's campaign during the summer to become Conservative leader to ditch that tax rise.

There is speculation she will put it up a little bit - perhaps not the full amount that Sunak was suggesting. If there is a U-turn at all, certainly that may help steady nerves in the market but politically it could be very damaging.

There are now questions about who will be in charge of economic policy. Is it Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who is returning early from the IMF meeting in Washington, or is it No 10?

The decisions to be taken on the economy - and the reaction to them - could determine whether Truss's policies, and her premiership, can survive until the next election.