Tory Party Conference 2023 LIVE: Jeremy Hunt rules out any ‘big tax cuts’ ahead of keynote speeches by Chancellor and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan in Manchester today

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt suggested it is not the ‘appropriate time’ to announce whether to cut the northern leg of HS2, as the Tory party hold their annual conference in Manchester.

He told Sky News: ‘In terms of things like the northern leg of HS2, whatever decision we make, we will take very careful note of the need to have proper economic infrastructure throughout the whole country.

‘In terms of this specific decision I’m afraid you will have to wait.

‘We will make the announcement at the appropriate time’.

Tory chiefs will be hoping the conference is a bit livelier today after Sunday was blighted by half-empty halls for ministers’ speeches.

The line of people waiting for entry snaked around the block this morning.

Yesterday, some speeches were to many empty seats.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has spoken to Sky News on his morning media round at the Tory Party Conference – but despite pressure from Tory grassroots, he has already ruled out ‘big tax cuts’.

See the full clip below

Mobiles are to be banned from classrooms, the Education Secretary will announce today at the Conservative Party Conference.

Gillian Keegan will order schools to outlaw smartphones during lessons, and also in breaks, in a bid to end disruption and make it easier for pupils to focus.

A government source said new guidance would be issued to schools across England requiring them to take action.

Click below to read MailOnline’s story in full

Jeremy Hunt will vow to ‘make work pay’ today with a boost to the minimum wage and a crackdown on benefit claimants who refuse to look for a job.

The Chancellor will use his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester to announce that the national living wage will rise to more than £11 an hour next April, benefiting two million low-paid workers.

But he will also warn that about 100,000 benefit claimants who refuse to look for work could have their handouts cut for months. Mr Hunt will say the reforms are designed to ‘make work pay’, adding: ‘Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.’

Click below to read MailOnline’s story in full

Liz Truss is one of the main attractions at Tory Party Conference fringe events this afternoon. The former Prime Minister is being tipped for a comeback and plans to remake her case for the direction she believes the Tory Party should take – a year on from when her own administration unravelled.

Key fringe speeches include:

11am James Cleverly at a Spectator event on China
12.30pm Liz Truss at the Great British Growth rally
3pm Launch of the New Conservatives manifesto

Here are the timings for today’s speeches at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester:

11am Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho
11.15am Transport Secretary Mark Harper
11.30am Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer
2pm Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
2.15pm Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch
2.30pm Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride
2.45pm Environment Secretary Therese Coffey
3pm Education Secretary Gillian Keegan.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will take centre stage this afternoon with his 2pm speech, where he will vow to ‘make work pay’ today with a boost to the minimum wage and a crackdown on benefit claimants who refuse to look for a job.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will be on at 3pm, where the Daily Mail exclusively revealed she will BAN mobile phones from the classroom to curb ‘distraction, disruptive behaviour, and bullying’.

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s liveblog from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester today.

Follow all the twists and turns from the city’s Central Convention Complex here.