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 of £400 discounted bills, increased to £650 for vulnerable households, was enough, Johnson replied: “No, because what I’m saying we’re doing in addition is to make sure that by October, By January , there is further support and what the government will do, whoever is prime minister, is make sure there is extra cash to help people.” Johnson said earlier this week he was confident his successor would offer more help with the cost of living, but Mr Truss avoided specifying how he would act and repeatedly rejected the idea of Gordon Brown-style “handouts”. Her stance appears to have softened slightly, with her campaign suggesting that help will be forthcoming. But 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.” Sunak announced a £10bn package on Friday designed to help with energy bills this autumn, saying he could be open to “some limited and temporary one-off borrowing as a last resort to get us through this winter”. “People need reassurance now about what we are going to do and I make no apologies for focusing on what matters most,” Sunak wrote in The Times, which reported he estimated the energy VAT cut at £5 billion. He is also said to have vowed to find the same amount again to help those most in need, saying: “You can’t heat your house with hope.” 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. The former chancellor also highlighted Trudeau’s refusal to say whether she would keep the windfall tax on oil and gas profits, which is expected to raise more than £5bn from oil and gas giants who make money from high prices. In an interview with Times Radio, Sunak defended the surprise tax he had introduced as chancellor, saying it would “automatically raise more money” in tax to support struggling households as energy profits rise. The former chancellor added: “I think that’s the right thing to do and I think Liz Truss said last night that she was against it and she didn’t actually believe in that policy, so I think that’s a question she has to answer. “ He also said his opponent’s plans to cut taxes would do “virtually nothing” for pensioners or the less well-off. A spokesman for the Sunak campaign added that Truss had “punched another £5bn black hole in its plans” by not backing the windfall tax. Sunak also dismissed the idea that Truce was the front-runner and likely to win, saying “a lot of people haven’t made up their minds”. After Thursday’s tensions, the Trust reiterated its belief that tax cuts should be the main response to the bill surge. Truss told an audience of Tory MPs in Cheltenham that this would always be the “first port of call”, followed by a focus on longer-term energy supply issues such as support for fracking and nuclear power. Truss said she could provide other help but gave no details, saying she “can’t write the chancellor’s budget” before the prime minister is even elected. “If the answer to every question is to raise taxes, we’re going to stifle economic growth and lead to impoverishment, and I think that’s a huge problem,” he said.
