Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 13 November 2022

1. Truss ‘cost the UK £30bn’

Liz Truss’s ill-fated mini-budget cost the country £30bn, said the independent Resolution Foundation. Calculating that Truss was responsible for half of the fiscal hole which the Treasury puts at £60bn, the thinktank said the figure would have been far higher without the U-turns taken by Hunt on the Truss plans. The Observer said that the estimates of the cost of “Trussonomics” will “intensify a bitter blame game now being played out at the top of the Tory party”.

2. Democrats keep the Senate

The Democrats will retain majority control of the US Senate after winning in Nevada. Catherine Cortez Masto is projected to defeat Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump. Following the best midterm performance for a sitting party in 20 years, Democratic Senate Majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said the results showed the US people had rejected the “violent rhetoric” of the Republican Party. Although Republicans are expected to retain control of the House, they could enjoy no more than a “small and unruly majority”, said CNN.

3. New study finds class pay gap

Working-class people earn several thousands of pounds a year less on average for doing the same jobs as middle-class peers, according to a major study of the class pay gap. The Social Mobility Foundation found that professionals from working-class backgrounds earn £6,718 less on average, while women and most ethnic minorities face double discrimination: working-class professional women earn £9,450 less than men, while working-class Bangladeshi professionals earn £10,432 less than white counterparts in the same jobs.

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4. Deadly collision at US airshow

Two military planes have collided during an airshow in the US city of Dallas. The planes - a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and a P-63 Kingcobra fighter - crashed into each other yesterday afternoon at the Commemorative Air Force Wings Over Dallas show. Officials have not said how many people were on board but two victims have been named. The Allied Pilots Association said Terry Barker and Len Root - two of its former members - were among people who died in the collision.

5. Humanitarian agreement in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan rebels have agreed to arrange immediate humanitarian access to “all in need” in Tigray and neighbouring regions. The warring sides have held talks in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi this week on the full implementation of a deal signed 10 days ago to end the two-year conflict in the war-ravaged region of northern Ethiopia. The agreement was signed by Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, of the Ethiopian Armed Forces, and General Tadesse Werede, commander-in-chief of the Tigray rebel forces.

6. Minister says ‘Hotel Britain’ will end

The so-called “Hotel Britain” situation, where asylum seekers are housed at a cost of billions of pounds to the taxpayer, “must end”, the immigration minister has said. The Sunday Telegraph said ministers are exploring “larger and less luxurious sites” including disused student accommodation, defunct or underperforming holiday parks and budget cruise ships. After some asylum seekers were housed in stately homes, Robert Jenrick said “simple, functional accommodation that does not create an additional pull factor” should be used.

7. Hancock ‘sought PR advice’

Matt Hancock sought the “public relations wisdom” of his girlfriend Gina Coladangelo before agreeing to appear on I’m A Celebrity. “He consulted her at length,” said a friend of the couple. “They are very much a team.” Meanwhile, said The Sunday Times, some are thinking of Hancock’s “scorned” wife. “How does it feel to be her, or one of their three children, as he blithely tells the nation about falling in love?” said a former friend. It is reported that Hancock will receive £400,000 for appearing on the show.

8. More Britons dragged into poverty pay

The number of British people earning less than the real living wage is set to reach 5.1m next year, said the Living Wage Foundation. Currently, around 3.5m workers earn less than the real living wage – the sum paid voluntarily by thousands of UK employers based on what people need to afford basic living costs. However, the campaigning organisation has forecast that another 1.6m people will be pulled into poverty pay rates by the spring of 2023 because wages cannot keep up with inflation.

9. Egg industry ‘cracking’ in UK

The egg industry is “starting to crack” in Britain, said the Sunday Telegraph. Last week, around one in 10 egg boxes at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons were unavailable. Some estimates suggest Britain’s egg production could plunge by eight million next year and others said the UK could run out of eggs by Christmas. With the cost of feeding chickens surging by at least 50%, it is estimated that a third of farmers have cut back on the size of their flock of hens.

10. ‘Terminal’ man dies in Paris airport

The man who had lived inside the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport for years and inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2004 movie The Terminal, has died at the same airport. Mehran Karimi Nasseri was pronounced dead by the airport medical team at Terminal 2F and had died of natural causes. In 1998, the Iranian refugee was on his way to England via Belgium and France when he lost his papers and could not board a flight, nor leave the airport, and was stuck in limbo until 2006.