Prime Minister Liz Truss's energy plan falls short

Martyn Day, the SNP MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, pressed Ms Truss on potential help in specialist areas of industry.

“Members may be familiar with the work of Bo’ness firm, Ballantine’s Castings, an iron foundry in operation since the 1820s, which in recent years has done much around the parliamentary estate,” he said. “Without the protection of an energy price cap, this specialist SME is witnessing unaffordable costs with bills rising from £13,000 to £120,000 per month.

"Heavy energy users face a disproportionate burden and clearly need more support than other businesses. 

“What will the PM do to protect strategically important and energy intensive industries?”

Prime Minister Liz Truss speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. Picture: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor /PA Wire (Image: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor)

The PM responded to the question about the company, which was contracted to give Westminster Bridge a facelift: “I very strongly agree with the honourable gentleman that there are strategic industries that we will need to make sure, who use a lot of energy, we need to do all we can to help them become more energy efficient but we also need to make sure that they are able to remain competitive in the global marketplace and that is certainly something the Energy Secretary is looking at in preparing this package.”

The package for now has provided firms with six months of uneasy respite, with support described as being the equivalent to £2,500 household cap, but with scant detail.

Cold comfort for Ballantine’s, I suspect, as there must surely be a limit to how energy-efficient a business like a foundry can be.

Ballantine’s were awarded the contract for the full replacement of all the fascia panels on the historic Westminster Bridge. Colin Mearns (Image: Newsquest)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer raised concerns on Thursday over who would foot the support bill. He said the borrow-now-pay-later plans are reliant on a threat of oil firms withdrawing investment that does not exist. “Asked which investment BP would cancel if there was a windfall tax, the chief executive said ‘none’,” he said.

The temporary nature and lack of detail in the Truss energy package prompted concerns among business groups, including the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

Deputy business editor Scott Wright said firms warned that the six-month scheme must not end on a “cliff edge”.

There was a sharp intake of breath this week, wrote business editor Ian McConnell, when Ms Truss found a new role for Jacob Rees-Mogg, who had been Minister for Brexit Opportunities since February. He was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Ms Truss’s Cabinet.

“It will perhaps seem like a curious appointment to many businesses in the UK which have been laid low by the impact of the Tories’ hard Brexit,” says Mr McConnell.

Business correspondent Kristy Dorsey said Ms Truss will face challenges bringing to fruition the country’s electric vehicle ambitions.

“The new Prime Minister’s in-tray is daunting, but if the Government’s ‘green industrial revolution’ is to succeed, she will need to find ways of supporting the industry,” she says.

Newsquest (Image: Newsquest)