Tory leadership frontrunner understood to have discussed move, with final decision coming after contest ends
Liz Truss is considering whether to reduce VAT by five percentage points across the board, which could save families £1,300 a year, it was reported.
The foreign secretary is understood to have discussed the move with her advisers but no final decisions will be taken until the Conservative leadership contest concludes on 5 September, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Continue reading...Nadhim Zahawi says energy price hike will be ‘really hard’ for middle-earners, as well as society’s most vulnerable
People earning around £45,000 a year, as well as those on benefits, could need government help to pay their energy bills this winter, the chancellor has said.
Britain’s energy industry regulator, Ofgem, on Friday confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill from £1,971 to £3,549 a year.
Continue reading...Tory MPs are jittery while Keir Starmer is gaining traction with his plan for a price freeze
It is the biggest energy crisis for decades, with experts warning that people may freeze to death this winter and many will turn off their heating altogether.
But Liz Truss’s leadership campaign has barely reacted to the news that bills will have almost tripled in a year, beyond the vague promise of help to come.
Continue reading...Experts say 80% price cap increase will plunge people into destitution and cause avoidable deaths
Millions of households are bracing for a winter catastrophe of rising energy bills that experts say will plunge people into destitution and cause an increase in avoidable deaths without urgent government support.
After Britain’s energy industry regulator confirmed an 80% rise in the consumer price cap from October that will take a typical household’s gas and electricity bill to £3,549 a year, there were stark warnings about its potentially devastating effects.
Continue reading...Truss remained loath to ‘bung money’ at those struggling to afford spiralling bills, Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution
Liz Truss has doubled down on her reluctance to “bung more money” at those who will struggle to afford spiralling energy costs this winter while Rishi Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution without extra support, as the pair clashed at the penultimate hustings of the Conservative leadership race.
With energy regulator Ofgem expected to raise the price cap to £3,500 a year from October for the average dual-fuel tariff, Truss warned the issue of spiralling fuel costs was not a short-term one. “If people think this problem is going to be over in six months they are not right. This is a long term problem,” she told the audience in Norfolk.
Continue reading...Company’s owner, Centrica, says extra support will begin in autumn and last for the ‘duration of the energy crisis’
British Gas has announced it will donate 10% of its profits to help its poorer customers manage rising gas and electricity bills for the “duration of the energy crisis”.
Ahead of an expected rise in the price cap on energy on Friday, the company’s owner, Centrica, said it would donate £12m this autumn into an existing support fund. Grants of £250 to £750 would be given to poorer customers, and the pledge to donate 10% of profits every six months would last for the duration of the energy crisis “backdated to the start of 2022”, it added.
Continue reading...Millions of vulnerable people will be harmed without radical policies to ease cost of living crisis, say experts
Physical and financial harm will be caused to millions of vulnerable families unless the government takes action to avert a winter catastrophe by cutting energy bills, leading economists have warned.
In the run-up to the announcement of the new energy price cap tomorrow the Resolution Foundation thinktank said radical policies such as price freezes, solidarity taxes or lower social tariffs were needed to prevent the cost of living crisis worsening.
Continue reading...Energy prices have soared above prediction and subsidies will require significant further spending
Ministers could face an additional £23bn price tag for covering extra household energy costs of £900 this autumn, rising to £90bn next year, a new paper by the Institute for Government has found.
The paper, looking at the options for Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak in No 10, also warned the government should plan for prolonged rises in energy bills by going a lot further in making public appeals to use less gas – for example by informing consumers about the cost savings from turning down thermostats – and in committing to building more energy efficient homes to help protect consumers.
Continue reading...Half of UK households could be in fuel poverty by January unless government steps in, says managing director for customers
The UK faces a “dramatic and catastrophic winter for customers” as energy prices soar, according to a stark warning from the head of EDF Energy’s retail business.
Philippe Commaret, the energy firm’s managing director for customers, called for extra government intervention, including help for households to insulate their homes and a VAT cut for small businesses as prices jump to record levels.
Continue reading...Estimated 45m people will struggle to pay energy bills this winter with predicted rises in price cap
Two-thirds of all UK households will be trapped in fuel poverty by January with planned government support leaving even middle-income households struggling to pay their bills, according to research.
It shows 18 million families, the equivalent of 45 million people, will be left trying to make ends meet after further predicted rises in the energy price cap in October and January.
Continue reading...Party aims to get out message on plan to tackle cost of living before new Conservative PM enters No 10
Labour is planning a campaigning blitz in order to take ownership of its new energy price cap policy in case the next Tory leader bows to pressure and cancels the 80% rise expected in October.
Keir Starmer has vowed that his party “wouldn’t let people pay a penny more” on their gas and electricity bills this winter, proposing freezing the price cap at current levels and preventing the average household bill from reaching £3,600.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer says people won’t pay ‘a penny more’ and that plan would reduce inflation
Keir Starmer has put a beefed-up £8bn windfall tax on energy company profits at the heart of a new plan to stop people having to pay “a penny more” on fuel bills this winter.
The Labour leader confirmed that under his plan the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning that an expected 80% rise in October – taking an average household bill to about £3,600 – would not go ahead.
Continue reading...Latest updates: foreign secretary’s supporters accuse former chancellor of resisting changes to EU regulation as sixth hustings looms
Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has used an article in today’s Guardian to propose that the government should halt the increases in the energy price cap planned for later this year and next year and, if necessary, take energy companies into public ownership to ensure that they keep prices down.
Alongside the Lib Dem plan, with which it has some similarities (they also want a price cap freeze, and more money raised through a windfall tax), it is the most radical and ambitious proposal on the table to tackle the energy bills crisis.
Continue reading...Be it a loft insulation drive or a lower price cap, there are many ways to help – but action must be swift and extensive
The UK government has been urged to take further action to alleviate the impact of soaring energy prices, and there are a number of measures it could take.
Any rescue package would need to be swift and extensive to prevent households being plunged into poverty this winter as home energy prices surge. Ministers will also need to dig deep to prevent more businesses hit by rising energy costs from defaulting on loans and declaring themselves bankrupt.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary had previously said she did not want to give ‘handouts’ to people struggling with the cost of living
Liz Truss has doubled down on her refusal to offer significant help to people with soaring energy bills this winter, despite a forecast that these could exceed £4,200 annually from January, and rise further during 2023.
Truss, the runaway favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister next month, has already said she does not want to give “handouts” to people struggling with bills, preferring to prioritise tax cuts.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Lib Dem leader says Tory leadership hopefuls have no plan to help millions of families struggling with price rises
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a leading poverty charity, says, in the light of the latest forecast about how energy bills will rise (see 10.54am), the government needs to at least double the help already provided to help people through the cost of living crisis. This is from Peter Matejic, its chief analyst.
The latest projections of annual energy bills exceeding £4,200 from January is the latest in a series of terrifying warnings over the past week, from the Bank of England and others. Families on low incomes cannot afford these eye watering sums and as a nation we can’t afford to ignore an impending disaster.
Both candidates to be prime minister must now recognise the extraordinarily fast-changing situation and act to protect the hardest hit from the coming emergency.
Unite said the 4% increase for staff in middle pay bands announced by the government last month is a “massive pay cut” because of soaring inflation.
The union will now consult with its 100,000 health members across the NHS in both England and Wales on whether they accept the “imposed deal” or want to challenge it through industrial action, which could mean strikes this winter.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lib Dem leader says new PM should let government pay £36bn cost in new ‘energy furlough scheme’
Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak should cancel the £1,400 energy price cap increase in October in a new “energy furlough scheme” and government should absorb the £36bn cost of the hike, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.
Ed Davey said neither candidate appeared to have any policies that grasped the magnitude of what could happen this autumn. “We are facing a catastrophe this winter, a drop in living standards unlike anything we have seen in my lifetime,” he said.
Continue reading...Water levels in southern Norway so low domestic consumers may be prioritised over international customers
British consumers could face even higher bills and potential energy shortages this winter after Norway threatened to ration electricity exports.
The UK receives hydroelectric power from Norway through a subsea interconnector cable running beneath the North Sea.
Continue reading...Former PM has warned of a financial timebomb awaiting families as Labour plans a major intervention to address crisis
Boris Johnson and the Tory leadership candidates should agree an immediate emergency budget tackling the spiralling cost of living, Gordon Brown has said, or risk “condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty”.
The intervention by the former prime minister comes as new figures seen by the Observer show that more than 4 million households are on course to spend a quarter of their net income on energy.
Continue reading...Which? says people are cutting food and clothes spending to pay for mobile, broadband and landline
Almost 6 million UK households are struggling to pay their mobile, landline and broadband bills, with the cost of living squeeze forcing many to cut back on essentials such as food and clothes, cancel or change a service, or miss payments to stay connected.
A report from the consumer group Which? estimates that 5.7 million households have experienced at least one “affordability issue” in April, as cash-strapped homes struggle to cope with soaring bills and other costs.
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