He added: “I find it very strange that the highest earners are getting £400 out of their bills. “As Conservatives, we absolutely must believe in targeting taxpayers’ money as best we can, so that we actually achieve the best value and keep the burden on the coffers as low as possible. “It’s not an ideal outcome, to put it mildly, that people who don’t need it are getting quite significant amounts of money from the state. This is honestly not a targeted package, is it?’ Ms Truss’ team is not understood to have decided at what income level it would stop the deduction. Asked if there was a specific method by which all but the “high earners” could get the benefit, Mr Clarke said: “That’s the question we have to come back to – whether we can do more through taxation, whether we can do more through the welfare system… There are more ways we could approach the question of how to get that help than just using the Rishi 3.0 bailout.” Meanwhile, the Telegraph revealed that Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, told the Chancellor he would be “open to a review” of the Bank of England’s mandate, after Ms Truss criticized her approach to inflation.
“Energy market reforms should be our top priority,” says Simon Clarke
For days, Liz Truss has been under pressure from Rishi Sunak to determine how to support households facing devastating energy bills in the autumn. But Simon Clarke, who was Mr Sunak’s number two at the Treasury for two-and-a-half years and is now part of Mrs Truss’ inner circle, believes the Foreign Secretary should now stand firm, having previously drawn up plans to reversal of the National Insurance increase and suspension of green contributions to accounts. “It is my sincere preference that we avoid flogging too tightly to a course of action in mid-August,” says Mr Clarke, who remains chief secretary to the Treasury. “In just over three weeks, there will be a new government, which will actually have all the support of the civil service and all the options it offers, and the ability to work as a government to find the best solutions. “There was a temptation … for us to say ‘go now, go now, go now.’ Everyone agrees that this situation is urgent. “But … given that we will have the data we need by the end of the month and then have the time we need to respond in September before this price cut comes into effect, there is time for a proper process. » Clarke, 37, has risen rapidly through the Tory ranks since winning Middlesbrough in Cleveland South and East from Labor in 2017. Within months he had joined Freer, a pro-free market group started by Liz Truss and backed by MPs, such as Kwasi Kwarteng and Therese Coffey – two other key lieutenants in the Secretary of State’s leadership campaign. Now Mr Clarke is being touted for a high-profile role such as business, trade or housing secretary in a cabinet led by Ms Truss, with Mr Kwarteng expected to replace Nadhim Zahawi as chancellor.
“Liz Positive Attraction”
There was, he says, “never a formal conversation with Rishi” in which Mr Clarke told his former boss he had chosen to support Ms Truss over him. He has since been heavily critical of the former chancellor, including saying last week that Mr Sunak had “digged his heels in” against efforts to cut EU red tape. Mr Clarke says he and Mr Sunak, his constituency neighbour, had a “perfectly good working relationship” at the Treasury. He insists that it is “Liz’s positive pull over anything Rishi did when I was with him at the Treasury that led me to this decision.” But one of the many criticisms of Mr Sunak’s approach includes the former chancellor’s decision – to be implemented this autumn – to give every household an automatic £400 discount on their energy bills in October. Mr Clarke said the plans should be “reviewed”, stating: “I find it very strange that the highest earners are getting £400 out of their bills – I’ll be honest. “As Conservatives, we absolutely must believe in targeting taxpayers’ money as best we can, so that we actually achieve the best value and keep the burden on the coffers as low as possible. “It’s not an ideal outcome, to put it mildly, that people who don’t need it are getting quite significant amounts of money from the state. Isn’t it, honestly, a targeted package?’ After criticism of the plan in May, Mr Sunak said: “You can give that money to charity if you don’t need it.” Last week he said he would give his own payment to charity.
