There is no doubt that the energy price crisis is the most important issue facing the new prime minister, when he or she is appointed on 6 September. The scale of the economic shockwave that is just breaking over the country, and over much of the world, is only just beginning to be understood.
But it is not a simple or a single issue. It will exacerbate the other serious challenges which the new government will have to address. The parlous state of the National Health Service is the next most important issue, and the energy crisis is about to make it worse.
As we report, the cost of petrol and diesel is expected to force about 8 per cent of community NHS staff to leave their jobs in the next year. Nurses who rely on their cars to visit patients in their homes could find themselves paying a third of their pay on travel costs.
