Guardian editor-in-chief to interview George Osborne
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Version 0 of 1. The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, is to interview the chancellor, George Osborne, at the Conservative party conference. The interview will take place at 1pm on Tuesday at Manchester’s Central convention centre. The discussion with Osborne – who has his eyes fixed on succeeding David Cameron – is expected to focus on whether the Conservatives are the party of working people. Osborne’s plan to cut in-work tax credits have proved controversial, with a number of Tory MPs uneasy about their impact on low earners. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson is expected to signal his concern, warning that the Conservatives should “protect the hardest working and the lowest paid”. Related: Business rates plan 'may widen inequality among councils' Osborne will also be questioned about his ambitions to build a “northern powerhouse”. On Monday, he used his speech to the Conservative party conference to reveal the biggest transfer of power from central to local government in recent history. Osborne hailed the move, which will allow councils to retain all the money they raise from business rates, as a sign of his determination to devolve power from London. But the chancellor admitted that – despite “throwing everything I’ve got at it” – his plan might fail. “I’m throwing everything I’ve got at it. I’ve brought new science here, promoted the arts here, backed transport links here, brought investment from places like China here. I don’t know if it will work. But I do know that if you don’t even try you’re bound to fail,” he said. The chancellor also announced that the public will be offered cut-price shares in Lloyds Banking Group as the government moves to complete the sale of its stake in the bailed-out bank more than eight years after the financial crisis. |