Boris Johnson accused of "doing nothing" as millions of Brits face soaring bills
| Published date | 12 August 2022 |
Energy consultancy Auxilione said that based on Wednesday’s prices, Five 'energy-guzzling' appliances that rack up your bills as cost of living spirals in the three months from April. It also predicted bills would hit £4,467 in January.
But Ofgem and Energy UK also warned it was “possible” suppliers could raise costs before the cap kicks in on October 1.
Bosses from British Gas, E.ON, EDF and Scottish Power were among those hauled into Downing St to meet Mr Johnson, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
But the PM produced no concrete policy to tackle the crisis and instead gave a vague promise of “urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost of living pressures”.
But the lame duck PM will leave it to either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, who were last night at another leadership hustings, in Cheltenham, Glos, to sort out when one becomes Tory leader in September. No10 said: “The Prime Minister set out that it will be for the next Prime Minister to make fiscal decisions.”
Shadow Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband warned: “Britain faces a national emergency with rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis, families are worried about how they will pay their bills. But the Tories are missing in action.”
The SNP ’s Alison Thewliss added: “It’s disgraceful that Boris Johnson has failed to announce any new measures at all after today’s meeting, demonstrating a total abdication of leadership while millions of families suffer the spiralling Tory cost of living crisis.
“Families need help right now, they can’t afford to wait while this zombie government is stuck in a state of paralysis.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “It is appalling the Tories still haven’t announced extra support for families facing the hardest winter in decades.”
At the hustings Ms Truss admitted: “We have an energy crisis.”
But she offered no solutions other than to say “we need to do things differently”.
And the Foreign Secretary, who blundered by saying she was in Derbyshire, again refused to slap a windfall tax on energy giants.
The TUC warned energy bills will eat up more than two months of the average worker’s take-home pay next year. And Citizens Advice revealed it is braced for a surge in families unable to top up prepayment...
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