Boris Johnson has ruled out further cost of living measures until a new prime minister is in place, with the No 10 saying the worst financial pressure on families will not hit until the end of the year.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there were no plans for a Cobra meeting to tackle the cost of living crisis and that it would be up to Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak to come up with a plan to deal with the economic situation when the new prime minister be. in the mail in a month.
Downing Street said the “biggest challenges” to household budgets “come towards the end of the year” and it would be a matter for Truss or Sunak to decide whether to take action to help.
Energy bills are due to rise in the autumn and will have potentially trebled from 2019 to £3,600 in January. In addition, families also face inflation forecast to rise to 13% in October and rising mortgage bills due to interest rates rising to 1.75 %.
Johnson dismissed former Labor prime minister Gordon Brown’s suggestion of a cost of living summit between No 10, Truss and Sunak as he returned from a holiday in Slovenia. Number 10 refused to say who had paid for the Prime Minister’s break.
The spokesman said Johnson was due to speak to Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, later this week to ensure the support, which will arrive later this year, was “on track”, but insisted it would be inadequate to take on major financial challenges.
“Clearly these global pressures mean difficult times for the public. The government acknowledged that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to [energy] price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That’s why, at the beginning of the summer, we introduced a series of measures to help the public. Clearly, some of the global pressures have increased since it was announced.
“By convention it is not up to this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister.”
The government’s energy bill support scheme offers a £400 discount on bills in October for every household, a one-off payment of £650 to 8 million low-income households, £150 for people on disability benefits and £300 for pensioners. This was designed when the forecast for the October price cap was £2,800.
However, it is now set to rise to £3,600 in January, leaving many families wondering how they will cope.
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Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said: “People are worried about how they’re going to pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all the Tory Prime Minister is doing is shrugging it off. An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action, but instead we have a Conservative party that has lost control and is stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.
“Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks for oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills. Only a Labor government can tackle this crisis and deliver the strongest economy and Britain certainly needs it.”