UK PM TRUSS PROMISES IMMEDIATE ACTION ON ENERGY

UK PM contender Liz Truss on Saturday (local time) promised to address energy bill problems right away if elected. “If elected, I plan within the first week of my new administration to set out our immediate action on energy bills and energy supply. We need to take difficult decisions to ensure we are not in this position every autumn and winter. Sticking plasters and kicking the can down the road will not do. I am ready to take the tough decisions to rebuild our economy,” Truss said in a Saturday article for a UK-based media outlet, according to Sputnik. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is widely expected to take over from Boris Johnson as the next British Prime Minister, says fixing the UK energy market is her first priority. 

A source close to the Foreign Secretary told the publication that Truss would embark on a “two-track approach,” which would include immediate financial support for British households and ways to resolve the energy market problems exposed by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, Sputnik reported. Last week, UK energy regulator Ofgem announced an 80 percent increase in the energy price cap to 3,549 pounds (USD 4,194) per year starting October 1 due to rising global energy prices. 

Since its last revision in April, the energy price cap had stood at 1,971 pounds. Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley has warned that energy prices are likely to continue to rise and has called on the country’s future prime minister to take new measures to tackle the problem. Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be replaced soon, as Tory members vote for their preferred candidate between Indian-origin former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, which began in early August and ended Friday evening.