Liz Truss will FREEZE energy bills for homes and businesses in her first major act as new Prime Minister
LIZ Truss will freeze energy bills for homes and businesses in her first major act as new PM.
She beat Rishi Sunak to lead the Tories and today will replace Boris Johnson.
A multi-billion pound move to cap crippling costs could come by Thursday.
Last night, Home Secretary Priti Patel quit as a sweeping reshuffle began.
Miss Truss was yesterday crowned Tory leader and will be appointed as the 56th PM by the Queen at Balmoral today.
After seeing off rival Mr Sunak by 81,326 votes to 60,399, she vowed to “deliver, deliver, deliver” for the British public.
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The result brought to an end the 52-day contest of brutal blue-on-blue infighting — with her new Cabinet set to be named today.
Insiders said her first big act in the job will be easing the crippling costs of soaring energy bills for struggling homes and businesses, after punishing hikes in the price of gas.
The Sun can reveal that bills will be capped for at least four months, with a massive taxpayer bailout.
It will likely see household bills stay frozen at £1,971 to at least January for a typical use household — with firms' soaring costs also helped.
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Energy giants were last night locked in talks with the incoming administration about the details of the “bold plan”.
Insiders say it will freeze the wholesale cost of gas by law.
The price at which gas is sold by producers to energy providers will be capped — with legislation to make sure customers' bills are then kept at a low price.
The Treasury and industry would meet the shortfall, with experts suggesting the taxpayer will be on the hook for at least £40billion. Supporters of the plan say that, by pegging bills, it would help reduce inflation.
Talks were being led yesterday by Jacob Rees-Mogg who is widely expected to be named as Business Secretary when Ms Truss unveils her new-look Cabinet tonight.
According to one source in the meetings, the cash will come partly from a fund provided by the banks — but backed by the Treasury.
A Whitehall source said: “We are moving quickly to support the public with the impact of high energy prices, caused by Putin’s weaponisation of energy.
“Energy company CEOs were clear that they understood the scale of the challenge and the need to play their part to ensure the success of the Government’s planned intervention.”
Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith last night said: “We are going to have to have a big package, there is no time to be small or overly-narrowly targeted. We need to do something that gets everybody caught in this process.”
He told LBC radio that she will do “something big and bold and it is going to be getting the money to everybody” and revealed he had spoken to Ms Truss about the cost of living crisis.
Yesterday Ms Truss sealed victory over former Chancellor Mr Sunak by just over 20,000 votes.
But the 57 per cent to 43 per cent margin of victory, while comfortable, was still narrower than polls predicted.
In her victory speech in front of Cabinet Ministers and Tory MPs she promised to deliver an election victory in 2024 — as well as ease the cost of living crisis.
She said: “I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.
“I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people's energy bills, but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply.
“I know that we will deliver. And we will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024."
She added that her beliefs in freedom, low taxes and personal responsibility “resonate with the British people”.
Ms Truss also paid special tribute to her “friend” Boris Johnson, saying he “rose to the challenge” of the pandemic and Ukraine during his three years in Downing Street.
Mr Johnson said she had the “right plan” to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite the Tories and level up the country.
He added: “Now is the time for all Conservatives to get behind her 100 per cent.”
BoJo will give a farewell speech outside Number 10 today at around 7.30am before heading to Balmoral to see the Queen, where he will officially offer his resignation.
Ms Truss will then have a private audience with Her Majesty, who will formally appoint her as PM. She will then take a flight back to London to give a speech from Number 10 at around 4pm.
The Truss energy plan follows weeks of demands of action.
Another option has been for the banks to fund the package with consumers paying the money back over a lengthy time frame, up to 20 years.
But the plan to be enacted will be a ‘blanket’ proposal for all Brits with the so-called freeze not specifically targeted towards lower income groups.
Gas prices soared yesterday by nearly a third yesterday as Russia warned it would not reopen the Nord Stream 1 pipeline until war sanctions are lifted.
Energy minister Greg Hands admitted: “We see no reason to believe that gas prices will fall any time soon.”
Yesterday Kwasi Kwarteng — expected to become Chancellor — said the “severity of the crisis” meant there would more borrowing to “help people through the winter” .
Yesterday Brussels chiefs began their push for a similar plan.
According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the European Commission wants an “emergency wholesale price cap” across the continent, which would also fix the price gas suppliers could sell it at.
One plan being looked at would see a maximum price cap on all Russian gas imports.
The idea was backed by French President Emmanuel Macron last night, as he called on the nation to slash their energy use by a tenth.
Around a hundred protesters chanted “Truss out” outside the gates of Downing Street last night in a cost-of-living demonstration.
And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer immediately went on the offensive.
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He said: “We’ve heard far more from the latest prime minister about cuts to corporation tax over the summer than we have about the cost-of-living crisis, the single most important thing that's bearing down on so many millions of households.
“That shows not only that she's out of touch, but she's not on the side of working people.”
