Truss promises energy crisis plan within a week if she becomes PM

LIZ TRUSS has promised a plan to tackle the energy crisis and soaring bills within a week if she becomes Prime Minister tomorrow.

The Foreign Secretary, who is tipped to defeat rival Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest when the result is announced at lunchtime today, vowed to act “immediately” to tackle the issues upon entering 10 Downing Street but has not set out the detail of what action she will take.

There have been mounting calls in recent weeks for the UK Government to intervene to support the most vulnerable, with energy bills set to rise to around £3,500 this winter for the average household.

Many charities have warned that those on low incomes and pensioners are having to choose between food or heating, with fears malnourishment could increase.

Ms Truss, who denied she was being “coy”, said she wanted to reassure voters that help is coming but indicated they would need to wait for another few days to find out what exactly such support might look like.

However, according to reports today she is to announce a vast support package as her allies and officials discuss plans for a gas and electricity price freeze with industry leaders.

The package to deal with growing energy bills this winter is understood to be on the scale of the Covid furlough scheme, according to reports.

Senior Tories lined up for appointments in Ms Truss’s cabinet have been told “in no uncertain terms” not to scorn the idea that energy bills could be frozen.

Industry sources said that a price freeze for consumers was “the only conversation that anyone was having with the government”, including discussions involving Kwasi Kwarteng, who is expected to be Truss’s chancellor.

“The plan is to introduce some kind of artificial price cap for consumers combined with a mechanism for reimbursing suppliers,” one source told The Times. “Plans are reasonably well advanced and involve not just civil servants but also ministers lined up for jobs by Truss.”

The level of the price cap has not been set and businesses, particularly hospitality and retail, would need separate support, the source added.

One senior government figure said the scale of the package being looked at would “at least” be in the region of the £69 billion cost of the furlough scheme and “could be more”. “No one has come up with any option to do it for less,” the source said.

Ms Truss herself did not deny yesterday that the total cost of the package could reach £100 billion. She refused to detail her plans but carefully declined to rule out freezing bills.

“I’m not going to go into details of what a putative announcement would be before [it is made] because I think it would be the wrong thing to do now,” she told BBC show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

“I will act if I’m elected as Prime Minister. I will act immediately on bills and on energy supply because I think those two things go hand in hand.

“We need to deal with the immediate problem, we need to help people. We need to help businesses. But we also need to sort out the supply issues.”

Pressed on what form that action would take, Ms Truss said: “Before you have been elected as Prime Minister, you don’t have all the wherewithal to get the things done.

“This is why it will take a week to sort out the precise plans and make sure we are able to announce them. That is why I cannot go into details at this stage. It would be wrong.

“I understand people are worried and I want to reassure people that I am absolutely determined to sort out this issue as well within a month, present a full plan for how we are going to reduce taxes, how we’re going to get the

British economy going, and how we are going to find our way out of these very difficult times.”

Labour hit back at the lack of detail, with shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry labelling it “extraordinary” that Conservative Party leadership candidates “cannot give a specific answer to the one question frankly that everybody wants an answer to”.

Some experts and analysts have warned that neither Ms Truss nor Mr Sunak have set out sufficient plans to shepherd the UK through the coming months as the country braces for soaring energy bills and worsening inflation.

Ms Truss’s proposals, which include reversing April’s rise in National Insurance and next year’s planned Corporation Tax increase from 19 per cent to 25%, have prompted accusations they could worsen the already grim economic situation.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday offered a stark warning to the likely next Prime Minister, telling Sky News: “If she governs how she has campaigned over the summer, she will be a disaster.”

Ms Truss appeared to brush off such a warning as she insisted the UK had “been through worse”. She added: “With me, what you see is what you get. I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I follow through on what I’ll say I’ll do.

“I will be clear with the public about what we are going to face and there will be challenging circumstances, there’ll be difficult decisions to be made.

“Not all of those decisions will be popular but I will be honest about what we will have to do.

“I’m also somebody who is positive. I’m clear we can deal with these issues, that Britain has been through worse, frankly, in the past.”

Recent days have been full of speculation about who could make up the Cabinet in a Truss administration, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tipped to become Chancellor.

The Sunday Times also reported the energy crisis will feature centrally in Ms Truss’s first speech from Downing Street, if she becomes Prime Minister.

There is also growing expectation that Mr Johnson’s successor will make an early visit to Kyiv to shore up support for Ukraine.

In what is set to be a busy few days for UK politics, Mr Johnson’s successor will be announced today, taking over as PM tomorrow. Mr Johnson and his successor will go to Balmoral, rather than Buckingham Palace, for the appointment of the new Prime Minister in a break from tradition.

The Queen will receive Mr Johnson at her Aberdeenshire home, where he will formally tender his resignation. This will be followed by an audience with the new Tory leader, where she or he will be invited to form a government.