The energy regulator Ofgem’s announcement that the domestic price cap will rise by 80 per cent in October, taking a typical bill to £3,549 a year, puts Liz Truss under intense pressure to say more about how she would help struggling families.
Truss has promised vaguely that “support is on its way”. She has quietly dropped her opposition to “handouts,” which pandered to her immediate audience – Tory members who still like the old, out of date tunes about “benefit scroungers” – but played badly in the real world.
If, as everyone at Westminster expects, the foreign secretary becomes prime minister on 6 September, she intends to unveil her package in an emergency Budget within two weeks. Her allies insist it would not be right for Truss to announce her plans before she has been elected or seen all the facts. Strange: her newfound caution has not stopped her announcing tax cuts and other pledges costing up to £50bn during the leadership contest.
