Liz Truss is making a frantic 1,000-mile sprint to see the Queen earlier than launching her premiership with a £100bn vitality value freeze that would final till the following election.
She is flying 500 miles every method to Balmoral to be handed the keys to No 10 by the monarch earlier than addressing the nation from Downing Street with a pledge to slash family payments.
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Her emergency package deal to deal with the price of dwelling disaster is predicted to incorporate freezing vitality payments for houses and companies till January subsequent yr at the very least – and presumably till 2024.
It would imply that for a typical family, vitality payments could be frozen at just below £2,000. The preliminary price to taxpayers could be £40bn – to be paid for by extra authorities borrowing.
Over the previous 24 hours, Truss allies have been locked in talks with vitality bosses, thrashing out particulars of the worth freeze, which if it lasts two years might finally price £100bn.
Government ministers are anticipated to assert the brand new PM’s plan is extra beneficiant than the worth freeze proposed by Labour, however she is predicted to reject their demand for a windfall tax.
Who can be within the cupboard?
The massive cupboard jobs have lengthy been settled and can be stuffed by Ms Truss’s closest allies, together with Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, James Cleverly as international secretary and Therese Coffey tipped for well being secretary.
After Priti Patel give up as residence secretary, she is predicted to get replaced by Suella Braverman. Culture secretary and Boris Johnson cheerleader Nadine Dorries is predicted to observe Ms Patel in resigning.
But on coverage points, coping with the price of dwelling disaster is the brand new prime minister’s most pressing precedence. In her speech after she was declared Tory chief, she vowed to take care of folks’s vitality payments.
At the second, family vitality payments are capped at £1,971 – rising to £3,549 in October. The value cap is because of rise once more in January when payments are forecast to go £5,000.
But below the brand new PM’s value freeze plan, the federal government would immediately intervene within the wholesale vitality market, subsidising the price of fuel purchased by electrical energy mills and suppliers.
That would imply taxpayers taking over the danger of the surging wholesale fuel costs whereas subsidising the price of vitality for hard-pressed households and companies at present fearing chapter.
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Plan to be outlined as early as Thursday
After the brand new prime minister’s pledge of assistance on the steps of No 10, full particulars are anticipated from both Ms Truss or her new chancellor Mr Kwarteng as early as this Thursday.
Her Downing Street deal with on return from Balmoral can even embody pledges on tax cuts and strikes to deal with the disaster dealing with the NHS. Allies are describing her technique as a “shock and awe” strategy.
Besides her coverage initiatives, the brand new PM faces the duty of uniting her bitterly divided celebration. After her 57%-43% victory over Rishi Sunak, many Tory MPs are urging her to heal the injuries of the management contest.
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Sunak supporter and former cupboard minister Theresa Villiers instructed Sky News she would now help Ms Truss’s insurance policies, such because the reduce to National Insurance that was bitterly attacked by the previous chancellor.
But Ms Villiers warned: “It will be really important to ensure that whatever decisions are taken on tax don’t impact on inflation or add excessively to borrowing.”
On vitality payments, she stated: “There is a case for some more broadly based support as well, targeting it towards those on low incomes.”
John Penrose, who resigned from his authorities job over Mr Johnson’s partygate conduct, stated Ms Truss had a “clear win”, however added: “We’ll have to wait and see if she can deliver, but she said the right things.”
And on vitality payments, 1922 Committee treasurer Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown instructed Sky News: “I wouldn’t give a very big package to everybody, because that’s simply racking up our already huge debt and is going to have to be paid back some time.”
Source: information.sky.com”