Liz Truss to outline support package to tackle energy bill crisis

Help for struggling families and businesses expected to be funded by borrowing

Liz Truss arrives in Downing Street, London, on Tuesday after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to become prime minister. PA

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is expected to announce a multi-pronged plan on Thursday to protect households and businesses against crippling costs while increasing domestic energy supply.

As part of a package to ease the cost of living, the new prime minister is expected to tell MPs that domestic bills will be frozen at about £2,500 ($2,882).

Ms Truss rejected the idea of applying a windfall tax on the profits made by oil and gas companies to cover the cost – reported to be up to £150 billion — with the support expected to be funded through borrowing.

Labour has accused the prime minister of writing a “blank cheque” to the energy giants by ruling out the levy, with the British people left to “foot the bill”.

The prime minister was also expected to announce the resumption of shale gas fracking after it was stopped in 2019, a policy she signalled during her Conservative leadership campaign.

Cabinet minister Simon Clarke told Sky News the government had to "look at every source" to increase Britain's energy supplies, including taking another look at fracking.

The Times reported that ministers were meanwhile preparing a public information campaign to encourage people to use less energy this winter.

Such a push, echoing the European Union's mandate to reduce gas consumption by 15 per cent, would be a break with Boris Johnson's government which declined to offer energy-saving advice.

Ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Ms Truss said families and businesses across the country were concerned about how they would “make ends meet” in coming months.

She blamed rising global prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and “weaponisation” of gas supply in Europe.

“This has only made clearer that we must boost our long-term energy security and supply,” Ms Truss said.

“We will take action immediately to help people and businesses with bills, but also take decisive action to tackle the root cause of these problems, so that we are not in this position again.

“We will set out our plans to deliver on that promise and build a prosperous Britain for everyone.”

The UK's energy crisis - video

Downing Street said she would set out a “bold plan of action to support people across the UK”, while also increasing domestic energy supply.

Going head to head with Sir Keir Starmer at her first Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Truss said she would make an announcement on her cost-of-living proposals to the House on Thursday.

But she faced accusations that she was avoiding scrutiny over the way her plans would be presented to Parliament.

Ms Truss will open a debate on energy costs but, unlike a formal ministerial statement, this will not result in sustained questioning from MPs about the move.

Labour said the “only fair” answer to the crisis is its proposal to freeze bills, valued by the party at £29bn.

Liz Truss's political career - in pictures

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  New Conservative Party leader and Britain's Prime Minister-elect Liz Truss delivers a speech after being announced the winner of the Tory Party leadership contest in central London on September 5, 2022. Ms Truss is the UK's third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. AFP

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  Liz Truss during a hustings event in Darlington in August 2022. Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak are awaiting the results of a poll of Conservative Party members deciding which of them has been selected as the new party leader, and next prime minister. PA

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  Liz Truss playing pool during a visit to the Onside Future Youth Zone in London in August 2022. PA

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  Boris Johnson and Ms Truss arriving for an extraordinary summit at Nato headquarters in Brussels, in March 2022. AFP

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  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ms Truss arrive for talks in Moscow in February 2022. AP

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  Ms Truss in Red Square during a visit to Moscow in February 2022. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Ms Truss meeting European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic (not seen) for talks in central London on the Northern Ireland Protocol on 11th February 2022. PA

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  Ms Truss with Marise Payne, the Australian minister of foreign affairs, at Government House in Sydney, Australia, in January 2022. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Liz Truss hosts Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic at Chevening House in January 2022 to discuss the Northern Ireland protocol. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Ms Truss visits British troops in Estonia as they operate alongside other Nato troops in Tapa in November 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Liz Truss walks through the old town in Tallinn, Estonia, in November 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Ms Truss greeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, in November 2021. PA

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  Ms Truss at the Red Fort in New Delhi during a trip to India in October 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  The British foreign secretary on the Plaza de la Constitucion in Mexico City, during a trip to Mexico in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Queen Elizabeth II greeting Ms Truss at a reception for international business and investment leaders at Windsor Castle in October 2021. PA

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  Liz Truss with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in New York, in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Ms Truss on a morning jog over Brooklyn Bridge in New York in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street

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  Former Chancellor Philip Hammond, centre, holding his red ministerial box outside 11, Downing Street, flanked by Treasury colleagues Ms Truss and Mel Stride in October 2018. PA

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  Ms Truss, then secretary of state for justice, being escorted around HMP Brixton by prison governor David Bamford in November 2016. PA

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  Ms Truss as she became the first woman ever to hold the role of Lord Chancellor, arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice before being installed in July 2016. PA

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  In April 2016, the former environment secretary Liz Truss listening to former chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne (not seen) during his speech at the National Composites Centre in Bristol. PA

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  When she was environment minister, Ms Truss visited the bridge over the River Wharfe in Tadcaster, which collapsed after heavy flooding in December 2015. Getty Images

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  Addressing the Conservative party conference in Birmingham in 2014 when she was secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Getty Images

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  Mr Truss on the Sawnnington Farm to Fork stand at the Norfolk Food Festival at the Houses Of Parliament in October 2011. PA

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  Conservative Parliamentary candidate for South-West Norfolk Elizabeth Truss, while canvassing in the village of West Walton during the 2010 General Election campaign. PA

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  The former Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, centre, speaking at the launch Reform's Lawful Society report on the nature of crime and the incentives in the criminal justice system while Ms Truss looks on, in September 2008. PA

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  Former Conservative Leader William Hague meeting conservative candidate for Calder valley Ms Truss, during the General Election Campaign for 2005. PA

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said the question of who pays was “core” to any solution.

“By ruling out a windfall tax, Liz Truss, in one of her first acts as prime minister, has written a blank cheque to the oil and gas giants making £170bn in excess profits, and the British people will foot the bill,” Mr Miliband said.

“Every penny her government refuses to raise in windfall taxes is money that they will be loading on to the British people for years to come.”

On Wednesday, Ms Truss’s official spokesman said the existing windfall tax imposed under Mr Johnson still stands, despite her opposition to such levies.

Downing Street also indicated the moratorium on fracking in England could be lifted in the energy package, despite the 2019 Conservative policy opposing an end to the ban without science showing it can be done safely.

Ms Truss vowed during her leadership campaign that she would end opposition to shale gas extraction in places where it is backed by local communities.

She began PMQs by striking a conciliatory tone, promising to work with MPs across the House to deal with “the challenges we face”, at a “vital time for our country”.

But her clash with Sir Keir showed clear dividing lines on fiscal policy, with Ms Truss determined to scrap planned increases in corporation tax.

“There’s nothing new about the Tory fantasy of trickle-down economics, nothing new about this Tory prime minister who nodded through every decision that got us into this mess and now says how terrible it is," Sir Keir said.

"And can’t she see there’s nothing new about a Tory prime minister who, when asked who pays, says ‘It’s you, the working people of Britain?'”

Ms Truss told him: “I will take immediate action to make sure we have lower taxes and we grow the economy, and that way I will ensure we have a positive future for our country and we get Britain moving.”

Meanwhile, she has continued to make appointments to her government – with several MPs who supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership race awarded ministerial posts.