EU calls for money to be clawed back from energy firms, saying profits must go ‘to those who need it most’ – politics live

Liz Truss has stated her opposition to windfall taxes but the European Commission says energy profits must be shared

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, says the UK is facing a “crisis of income”. She says workers should get a better share of corporate profits.

This has parallels with the point Ursula von der Leyen was making about profits in her speech this morning (see 9.35am), although von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat who has little in common with Graham, was just talking about the energy sector.

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British firms warned of delay in energy bills support, reports say

Businesses may have to wait until November, although package could still be activated next month

British businesses have been warned by government officials that they will have to wait longer than households for financial support with their energy bills amid delays in launching the £150bn scheme, according to reports.

Company bosses are increasingly worried about the prospect of delays to the arrival of support because fixed energy contracts come to an end in October for hundreds of thousands of firms.

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Kwarteng ‘tells Treasury to focus entirely on growth’ as Tory peer defends sacking of senior civil servant – as it happened

The new chancellor is reported to have told Treasury staff there was a need to ‘do things differently under fresh leadership’. This live blog is now closed

At the lobby briefing yesterday Downing Street admitted that Liz Truss had not completed her government reshuffle. New appointments were suspended following the death of the Queen.

According to an analysis by Arj Singh for the i, 55 posts remain unfilled. Singh says that, to fill all the posts that Boris Johnson had in his government, Truss will need to appoint 21 junior ministers in the Commons, nine Commons whips and 25 Lords ministers.

The removal of Sir Tom Scholar as the lead permanent secretary at the Treasury should be a cause for celebration.

Having worked in his department for nearly two years I saw at first hand the malign influence of the Treasury orthodoxy at play. Whether it was foot-dragging and passive resistance to creating a Treasury office in the north (in Darlington), which he fiercely resisted, or the botched arrangements in the construction of the bounceback loans during the pandemic, all roads led back to him.

I hope very much that our new prime minister will build on her excellent decision and remove responsibility from the Treasury for driving economic growth. It has no idea how to deliver this. The system obsesses about measuring inputs, counting out the money distributed to departments, but has little clue of how to measure outcomes. Departments are infantilised in their management of money, with savings being automatically clawed back to the centre. This of course removes any incentive to think innovatively, creatively or cost-effectively.

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Liz Truss under pressure to reveal details of energy crisis plan

Emergency budget of winter tax cuts expected next week once period of national mourning for Queen is over

An emergency budget to bring in winter tax cuts for millions of people and set out more detail on energy handouts is expected late next week once the country emerges from national mourning.

Though politics has been paralysed by the death of the Queen, Liz Truss is under pressure from Tory MPs to set out her plans potentially on Thursday or Friday next week, before the Commons breaks up for party conferences.

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Asos sales weaker than expected as cost of living crisis bites

August slump leads to online fashion retailer downgrading annual growth forecast to about 2%

Asos said sales in August were weaker than expected and warned that full-year profits would be at the bottom end of its guidance, with the cost of living crisis hitting cash-strapped shoppers.

The online fashion retailer, which made more than £190m in profits last year, expects profits for the year to the end of August to be about £20m.

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Liz Truss set to announce £130bn energy bill bailout

New PM expected to promise ‘immediate action to help people and businesses’ and end to fracking ban

Liz Truss will finally present her long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills on Thursday, with some Tory MPs conceding this is already a make or break moment for her entire premiership.

The new prime minister is expected to announce to MPs that bills will be frozen at about £2,500 a year until 2024 as part of a package of support costing up to £130bn, funded by the taxpayer, as she tries to address the most significant economic crisis in a generation.

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Liz Truss holds first cabinet meeting as Thérèse Coffey denies claim PM put loyalty before competence – UK politics live

Health secretary says Truss did not focus too much on rewarding friends as new ministers attend first cabinet meeting

According to a report by Jason Groves in the Daily Mail, Liz Truss may announce an end to the ban on fracking this week. During the leadership campaign she said she wanted to allow fracking, but only in areas where there was a clear public consensus in favour.

On the Today programme this morning Lord Deben, the Tory peer who chairs the Committee for Climate Change, said fracking was not a solution to the UK’s energy problems. He explained:

The price of gas is not affected by the relatively small amount that we can get, in addition to the North Sea or indeed from fracking.

This is an international price and we would be paying the same price we got out of the fracked gas as we are for the gas we’re using now.

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Cost of living and climate are higher global priorities than Ukraine, poll finds

But there remains strong support in many countries for Russian military withdrawal from Ukraine, survey finds

The cost of living is ranked by most voters globally as a more important issue than liberating Ukraine from Russian occupation, but there is still strong support for a Russian military withdrawal, according to a survey showing global preoccupations.

Majorities in 16 of the 22 largest countries believe Russia should leave the territory it has occupied in Ukraine, the survey shows. The polling in 22 countries of more than 21,000 citizens also underlines the extent to which the global south is less engaged with the war in Ukraine than Europeans.

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New prime minister Liz Truss returning to Westminster to appoint cabinet after meeting with Queen – UK politics live

Latest updates: Liz Truss invited to form a new government after being confirmed as prime minister following Balmoral meeting

Johnson says it is the Conservatives who understand “the vital symmetry between government action and free market capitalist private sector enterprise”.

He is now rattling through a list of what he sees as his achievements in government: more police, new hospitals, more nurses. He even repeats the (false) claim that the government is on course to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade.

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Tory leadership: Nadine Dorries steps down and returns to backbenches – as it happened

Latest updates: culture secretary will not serve in Truss’s cabinet and is expected to receive peerage from Boris Johnson

Philip Hammond, who was chancellor when Theresa May was prime minister, has joined Rupert Harrison, another Tory Treasury alumnus (see 10.02am), in criticising the Truss camp this morning for disparaging Treasury orthodoxy. Hammond told Times Radio:

When I hear people talking about Treasury orthodoxy, I do worry that what they might sometimes be talking about are economic facts of life. And yes, the Treasury will ensure that politicians, however senior, are confronted with the realities of the economic facts of life. “Yes, Minister, you may wish to do this. But you need to understand that the consequences will be as follows.” And we can’t legislate to change the laws of economics, unfortunately. And I think Liz Truss understands that very well.

Obviously, I worked very closely with her. She was chief secretary to the Treasury when I was chancellor, she understands the laws of economics as well as anybody does. And it’s essential that the political solutions that a government crafts, go with the grain of the laws of economics, because if you try and confront the laws of economics, you will come unstuck.

I think it is right and unavoidable that the government needs to provide support to people dealing with these huge energy bills as a short term solution, but we have to be clear, and I think [Truss] will be clear, that this can only be government support to deal with the immediate emergency energy prices being sky high, largely because of the war in Ukraine.

At the same time we’ve got to be honest about the fact that energy bills in the future are going to be higher than they were, traditionally, as we move to ensure energy self sufficiency, and to decarbonise our economies. That has always been the case; decarbonisation doesn’t come free.

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The more Tory voters see of Liz Truss, the less they like her, polls show

Leadership frontrunner is now seen by many party supporters as
out of touch and not like a ‘PM in waiting’

Liz Truss suffered a dramatic fall in ratings among people who voted Conservative at the 2019 general election during August, despite being on course to win the party leadership and become prime minister this week.

The latest polling by Opinium for the Observer shows that whereas 49% of people who voted Tory in 2019 had believed Truss “looks like a prime minister in waiting” at the beginning of August, this had dropped to just 31% by 30 August.

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Bus fares in England to be capped at £2 for three months, says DfT

Plan costing £60m is intended to help passengers during cost of living crisis and will come into effect in January

Bus journeys in England will be capped at £2 for three months amid concerns about the cost of living crisis.

The Department for Transport said the £60m plan could save passengers more than £3 for a single ticket.

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Public idea of dignified living is miles from what some can afford this winter

Wifi, Netflix, a laptop, presents for family and the odd night out with friends are in this year’s Minimum Income Standard

What constitutes a no-fripperies minimum standard of living in the UK in 2022? It’s not just sufficient money for three meals a day, suitable clothes, heating and a roof over one’s head, according to the public, but enough for a Netflix subscription, a smart speaker, the odd night out with friends and a supply of Covid masks.

It’s about being able to afford things such as a smartphone, a laptop, wifi, a cooker, a TV, the odd alcoholic drink and also enough to take an unostentatious week’s holiday away in the UK once a year, treat yourself to an occasional takeaway, buy presents for the children and family, and make charitable donations.

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Soaring costs could strip ‘basic dignity’ from millions in UK

Annual income survey finds national minimum wage will often fail to cover even a ‘no frills’ lifestyle

Soaring inflation and energy costs will leave millions of people on low incomes thousands of pounds short of what the public say is the minimum amount needed to live with basic dignity in the UK this winter, according to an annual survey.

The annual Minimum Income Standard study is based on intensive deliberations by groups of socially representative UK residents, who agreed what a normal, no-frills lifestyle would cost and look like in 2022, taking into account housing, food, clothing, household goods, transport and social participation.

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No one should be cut off if they can’t afford energy bills, says Zahawi

UK chancellor says more help will be provided to heat homes this winter but does not explain how

The chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, has said households should not be cut off if they cannot afford their energy bills, as the Treasury examines a range of options to help consumers cope with the cost of living crisis.

Zahawi promised that the government would expand on the £37bn package of aid announced earlier this year to help households tackle soaring energy costs. He told Sky News: “No one should be cut off because they can’t afford their bills.

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Network Rail braces for £1bn energy bill as costs increase by more than 50%

Cost of electricity for running trains alone is expected to increase from £595m to £885m in 2023-24

Network Rail is bracing for a £1bn energy bill for the first time in the history of Britain’s railways, as the energy crisis is forecast to increase its costs by more than 50% over the next financial year.

The cost of traction – providing the electricity for running electric trains – is expected to increase to £885m in 2023-24, Network Rail said, up from £595m this year.

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Energy price inflation: how the UK and EU could fight it

What can be done about rising prices – and would nationalising gas and electricity firms help?

Governments across Europe have been funding relief measures to help people with energy and petrol bills. The UK announced a £15bn package in May, largely in the form of cash payments to households, while EU member states are estimated to have spent €280bn (£243m) over the past year on everything from subsidies and price caps to one-off payments. But bills for households and businesses are reaching unsustainable levels, with further increases expected next year, sharpening the debate over whether ministers should be intervening directly in energy markets to help bring prices down.

As Russia threatens to further reduce gas supplies, politicians in Italy, Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic are among those pushing for coordinated action. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Monday Brussels was considering measures to be adopted by the 27 member states. What are the options?

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Demand for crisis support soars even in wealthy UK towns

Citizens Advice in affluent Wokingham says requests for help have nearly doubled in a year

A growing number of people in one of the most affluent areas of the country are struggling financially because of a huge spike in energy bills and the soaring cost of living, according to the chief executive of Wokingham Citizens Advice.

Many people who have been “just about managing” are now slipping into poverty and debt in Berkshire, said Jake Morrison, making him fearful for poorer regions throughout the country.

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Food banks warn surge in demand will prevent feeding hungriest this winter

Exclusive: Nearly 70% of providers say they may need to turn people away or shrink the size of emergency rations

Food banks across Britain have warned of a “completely unsustainable” surge in demand that will prevent them feeding the hungriest families this winter.

Organisations representing 169 food banks told the Guardian the number of people seeking emergency help had already grown “dramatically” and predicted “bleak and disturbing” weeks ahead.

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UK food price inflation hits highest level since global financial crash

Prices in shops rose by 5.1% in August, British Retail Consortium finds, as the war in Ukraine pushes up prices up for farmers

The rapidly rising price of food including milk, margarine and crisps pushed August shop price inflation to the highest levels since 2008 as the war in Ukraine raised costs for farmers.

Prices in shops rose by 5.1%, a big increase from 4.4% in July, as food producers passed on increases in the cost of fertiliser, wheat and vegetable oils, large amounts of which are produced in Ukraine and Russia, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market research firm NielsenIQ.

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