Kwasi Kwarteng reveals help for families tackling rising bills

Help is coming for cost-of-living crisis: Kwasi Kwarteng, the minister tipped as the new chancellor reveals a ‘package of measures’ will help families tackle rising bills

• Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng promised families ‘help is coming’
• Mr Kwarteng is likely to be the next chancellor and backs Liz Truss for PM
• The ‘best’ measures are being prepared for next PM to ‘hit the ground running’  
• Ofgem is expected to announce an energy price cap rise this week

Britain’s likely next Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, has promised families that ‘help is coming’ on the cost of living.

The Business Secretary said work was urgently under way on ‘the best package of measures’ so that the next Prime Minister would be able to ‘hit the ground running’ the moment they assume office.

The Liz Truss supporter also appeared to rule out a future windfall tax on energy companies, saying he would prioritise domestic energy production.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Mr Kwarteng said: ‘No country is immune from rising prices – least of all Britain. I understand the deep anxiety this is causing. As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going to make ends meet.

Britain’s likely next Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured on July 12), has promised families that ‘help is coming’ on the cost of living

‘But I want to reassure the British people that help is coming.’

His intervention – which indicates his likely approach to the looming economic and energy crisis should he go to No 11 – came as:

• Ofgem is expected to announce this week that the energy price cap will rise from £1,971 to £3,576 from October;

• The cap is predicted to rise again to more than £6,000 a year from April – a five-fold increase in a year;

• Energy firms ordered hundreds of thousands of prepayment meters as they prepared for families to default on bills in record numbers;

• Ms Truss hinted that more help on bills was coming – and appeared to soften her previous opposition to one-off payments;

• Boris Johnson’s allies said that the Privileges Committee hearing into his Partygate statements amounted to an attempt at impeachment;

• Former Tory Party chairman Amanda Milling became the latest MP to back Ms Truss for the Tory leadership;

• Jacob Rees-Mogg echoed the Foreign Secretary’s comments about British workers needing ‘more graft’.

Ms Truss (pictured on August 19 at the Conservative leadership hustings) hinted that more help on bills was coming – and appeared to soften her previous opposition to one-off payments

Boris Johnson’s (pictured on July 28) allies said that the Privileges Committee hearing into his Partygate statements amounted to an attempt at impeachment

Former Tory party chairman Amanda Milling (pictured arriving in Downing Street in November 2020) became the latest MP to back Ms Truss for the Tory leadership

Team Truss is putting together an emergency Budget, which, if she becomes PM, would aim to help Britain weather the extraordinary economic storm that could ruin many households and businesses.

The leadership hopeful has in recent days appeared reluctant to announce details of her energy package beyond revealing that she would scrap green levies and reverse a national insurance rise.

However, last night she hinted that more help for families struggling with their energy bills would be coming shortly – and appeared to row back on her previous refusal to consider one-off payments.

She told The Sun on Sunday that every Government ‘has to make sure life is affordable for people’ and that she was ‘looking across the board’ at help, including support for businesses, which do not benefit from the energy price cap.

Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured on August 2) echoed the Foreign Secretary’s comments about British workers needing ‘more graft’

But she doubled down on comments that she would help people in a ‘Conservative way’, adding that she would not ‘reach first for the handout’ before looking at the causes of soaring energy bills.

She said: ‘What I really object to is taking money off people in tax and then giving them the money back in benefits. That doesn’t make sense to me.’

Her rival, Rishi Sunak, has already said it is wrong to rule out direct support for households given pensioners and the vulnerable will not benefit from her current plans.

Mr Kwarteng, who lives on the same street as the Foreign Secretary in Greenwich, South-East London, is said to be Ms Truss’s pick for Chancellor.

The pair are old friends and ideological allies, having co-authored a 2012 book Britannia Unchained, which called for a smaller state.

Liz Truss’ rival and fellow candidate for PM, Rishi Sunak (pictured at the Conservative party hustings on August 19), has already said it is wrong to rule out direct support for households given pensioners and the vulnerable will not benefit from her current plans

Setting out his views yesterday, Mr Kwarteng appeared to rule out a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which he described as ‘punitive’.

He also championed domestic energy production so the UK is no longer held to ransom by ‘rogue petrostates’.

‘We need to crack on with more nuclear power stations, back British-made small modular reactors, invest in cheap renewable energy like offshore wind, and lift the ban on shale gas extraction in England where there is local consent,’ he said.

‘We also need to maximise North Sea oil and gas production… I appreciate windfall taxes are sometimes popular. But popularity won’t keep the lights on.’ He added: ‘Energy produced in Britain is by far the safest option.’

In October, Mr Kwarteng is due to issue a new round of permits for oil fields in the North Sea, the first since 2020. Sources close to the Business Secretary said that the controversial Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk would receive full Government approval.

It sets the stage for a future disagreement within Team Truss over the estimated £20 billion project, as some in the campaign are said to be angered by a Government decision to buy a stake in the project costing billions of pounds.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke is reported to have written to Boris Johnson and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi about the move.

Mr Clarke, who may replace Mr Kwarteng at the Department for Business, is said to have warned them the decision would compromise the new PM’s ability to cut taxes or spend more on the cost of living, according to the Sunday Times.

Simon Clarke (pictured on July 14), who may replace Mr Kwarteng at the Department for Business, is said to have warned them the decision would compromise the new PM’s ability to cut taxes or spend more on the cost of living, according to the Sunday Times

Asked about her cost-of-living plans, sources said it was ‘hard to lean in at this stage’, adding: ‘Until you’re in the chair in the PM’s office and have looked at the books, it’s very hard to say where we’re going to land.’

They said the Government was working on ‘lots of things’ but cautioned they are likely to be ‘very, very expensive’.

Labour has proposed a freeze on the price cap, keeping it at £1,971 for at least six months, a policy that could cost £60 billion – about the cost of furlough – for a year.

Liz Truss will deliver affordability, self-sufficiency and security, says Kwasi Kwarteng, the minister tipped as the new chancellor

The brutality unleashed by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine has been horrifying. The humanitarian impact has been catastrophic, but the invasion has also pushed European gas prices to unimaginable highs.

Russia is the world’s largest natural gas producer. By deliberately restricting exports, they are manipulating the price we pay at home. If there’s less gas on the market, we all pay more.

When I speak to ministers across Europe, they are all facing the same challenge. Energy rationing is looming for Germany. In France, households are being asked to take showers rather than baths. In terms of physical gas supply, Britain has a strategic advantage. Unlike most of Europe, we are not dependent on Russian gas, so less vulnerable to geopolitical leverage.

We are fortunate to have access to our own North Sea gas reserves, the second-largest liquefied natural gas port infrastructure in Europe, and reliable imports from friends and allies.

Thanks to a £90 billion investment in clean energy in the past decade, the UK now has one of the most secure and diverse energy systems in the world.

Liz Truss will deliver affordability, self-sufficiency and security, says Kwasi Kwarteng (both pictured on July 14)

With the preparations we have made since January –from buying extra gas, to extending the life of our coal plants – households, businesses and industry can be confident they get the energy they need.

However, while our energy supplies are secure, no country is immune from rising prices – least of all Britain.

I understand the deep anxiety this is causing. As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going make ends meet. But I want to reassure the British people that help is coming. Right now, work is happening across government to assess all the options at our disposal to mitigate the worst effects of the gas crisis.

And in just over two weeks’ time, our next prime minister will walk into 10 Downing Street ready to hit the ground running and deliver. On day one, the new prime minister will have the full information and analysis before them, allowing them to work up the best package measures that will help deal with the issue.

Liz Truss has said she will do all she can to help households across Britain. She has already announced she will reverse the National Insurance contribution rise and introduce a temporary moratorium on energy levies.

Of course, she will look at what more can be done to help families, but it is entirely reasonable not to detail the exact shape of that support until she has all the information to hand.

Liz has also been extremely clear that without radical supply-side reform, we cannot protect ourselves from this gas crisis, or other price shocks into the future. She understands the need to secure Britain’s energy independence. That means generating and producing more energy in the UK – and for the UK – so we are no longer held hostage by rogue petrostates.

We need to crack on with more nuclear power stations, back British-made small modular reactors, invest in cheap renewable energy such as offshore wind and lift the ban on shale gas extraction in England where there is local consent. We also need to maximise North Sea oil and gas production. Rather than slapping a punitive windfall tax, as Rishi Sunak has done, we need to incentivise investment in domestic oil and gas for our energy security.

I appreciate windfall taxes are sometimes popular. But popularity won’t keep the lights on. We need to boost North Sea production, or we will end up importing more from abroad, exacerbating the problem even further.

Energy produced in Britain is by far the safest option, and that’s how Liz will deliver security, affordability and self-sufficiency for our country and our people.

In the meantime, she has offered a bold and ambitious vision for the country that is based on her core principles of higher growth and lower taxes.

I share Liz’s firmly-held view that we must allow people to keep more of the money they earn. She understands that your money is far better spent by you, rather than the State. Cutting taxes will have the double effect of supporting hard-working people and triggering economic growth.

Liz is right to focus on reversing the 70-year-high tax burden and going for growth. Because without economic growth, wages won’t rise and jobs will be lost. Each tax we levy acts as a disincentive on economic activity.

The gas crisis is not going anywhere in the short term, but work is being done to furnish the new prime minister with the detailed options and information needed to tackle the situation head on from day one.

Liz Truss has exactly the right approach to helping people through the crisis, to grow our economy and boost our energy security to make Britain more resilient in the long term.

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