Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Truss’ plans were not only uncosted but woefully inadequate, adding that reversing the rise in national insurance would give national minimum wages around £1 a week – enough to cover just 3% of the increase energy bills. In recent days, Truss has softened on the issue of giving people immediate help to meet rising bills, but has sounded strongly opposed to so-called “handouts” at other times, saying tax cuts are the answer. The Foreign Secretary also said she would remove the ‘green levy’ from bills, which cost an average of £3 a week. Boris Johnson said on Friday that the current package, which gives people £400 in energy grant and up to £650 for 8 million of the most vulnerable, was not enough ahead of further increases expected in October and again next year. Amid predictions that energy bills could reach £5,000 a year by next April, the prime minister made it clear he expected his successor to act. Asked if the current package was enough, Johnson said: “No, because what I’m saying we’re doing in addition is trying to make sure that by October, by January, there’s further support and what the government will do, whoever the prime minister is , makes sure there’s extra cash to help people.” Rishi Sunak, Truss’s rival in the Conservative leadership, has drawn up plans for a £10bn support package to help people with their energy bills, saying he would be prepared to borrow to do it. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. But new analysis from the Tony Blair Institute said Sunak’s plan to cut VAT on fuel would only equate to a saving of around £14 a month for the typical household. Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, has faced criticism in recent days for not presenting Labour’s energy policy, with former prime minister Gordon Brown proposing temporary nationalization to overcome the crisis. Starmer is expected to present a fully costed Labor energy plan on Monday. Labour’s analysis of the Truss tax proposals shows that a worker working full-time on the National Minimum Wage will only earn £1 a week as a result of the changes to national insurance. On Friday Reeves said: “Liz Truss’ uncosted tax plan will give workers on the National Minimum Wage just an insulting £1 extra support while their weekly energy costs rise by £57 a week. “The minimum wage is already not enough to live on and this further lack of support for workers by the Conservatives risks plunging lower paid workers into real financial hardship. “A Labor government would act now to reduce bills by taxing the huge profits of oil and gas producers, permanently reducing energy bills with a green energy sprint for domestic power and pushing forward a 10-year plan to cut home heating bills for 19 million families living in cold, rainy houses.’ Thérèse Coffey, the Work and Pensions Secretary and one of Truss’s key allies, said on Friday that the cost of the bills would be “nowhere near” the levels predicted by independent analysts. Defending Truss, Coffey said: “She is absolutely an MP who knows what it’s like for struggling households and so, quite rightly, once Ofgem comes to a price cap… the whole of government… and it will be a decision for the new prime minister to establish what changes could be made.” A spokesman for Sunak’s campaign said on Friday that Truss had “punched a £5bn black hole in her plans” by not backing the windfall tax. However, the Truss campaign later clarified that it was not scrapping the current profits tax, despite being opposed to it in principle as a “Labour idea”.
