Cost of living: Liz Truss ‘will be bigger than expected in terms of energy crisis’ as PM | Political news
According to Sky News, Liz Truss will go “bigger than expected” after becoming the new prime minister on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister won Conservative leadership contest beat rival Rishi Sunak and will succeed Boris Johnson tomorrow.
Making tax cuts a top priority of her leadership campaign, she remains tight-lipped about what kind of support package she could introduce as the UK faces the prospect of soaring energy bills and The cost of living crisis is getting worse.
Political center: New Prime Minister announced this lunchtime – live updates
However, speculation is growing that she is considering freezing energy bills for millions of households.
The Daily Telegraph reports that she is planning such a freeze to prevent “Energy Armageddon”.
And Sky News political editor Beth Rigby understands from political sources and Whitehall that Ms Truss will announce a support package that will be larger than expected.
“I think it’s going to be an incredible and amazing moment,” said a senior ally of Ms Truss.
“Knowing Liz well, she’s going to want a bigger blast pack than people expect and it’s not just about the energy, it’s going to be about going against the orthodoxy of the Treasury. She’s going to want publicity. they see that she hears them.”
Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player
Lord Hayward: ‘Liz Truss will win’
There have been louder calls than ever in recent weeks for the government to step in to support the most vulnerable, with Energy bills set to increase around £3,500 this October for the average household.
Business leaders and opposition politicians have called for the government to freeze energy price caps, with Labor proposed to finance this by extending the wind tax on oil and gas profits.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the reports of prices being frozen but said “the question now is who will pay for it”.
“We say it’s an option,” he told reporters. “The oil and gas companies should have made those excess profits over the past few months.”
On Sunday, Ms Truss told the BBC the UK faced “some very, very serious challenges” and demanded immediate action from the government.
She vowed to outline her plan to deal with the energy crisis within a week of becoming Prime Minister – but refuses to go into more detail.
Appearing on Sky News this morning, Labour’s shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said it was “astonishing” that neither of the leadership candidates had confirmed their plans for the energy crisis.
He said the incoming leader could “do a lot worse” than pick up Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills.
Please use Chrome browser for more accessible video player
‘Only Labor can come up with a plan’
“The only source of the plan we’ve had so far is the Labor Party’s utterly costly energy price freeze so we can free families from the dreaded surge in costs. £5,000 or £5,500 bills are predicted next April,” he said.
“Despite the fact that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have been fighting each other like rats in a sack all summer long, neither of them have come up with a plan to deal with the energy crisis.”
Rishi Sunak leaves home ahead of leadership election results
Read more:
The new prime minister will be the ‘heart of the storm’ with no one more senior to consult
Truss would be a ‘disaster’ as Prime Minister if she controlled the way she campaigned
