Energy crisis: No new measures agreed to help Brits after PM’s crunch meeting with bosses

Treasury officials said “it will be for the next Prime Minister to make significant fiscal decisions” as they refused to concede to demands for immediate action. However, Mr Johnson said he would “keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost of living pressures”.

The outgoing Prime Minister, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng met with industry leaders this morning to discuss the current cost of living crisis.

In October energy prices are set to rise again and have even been forecast to reach £4,200 a year in 2023.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has led demands for Mr Johnson to intervene now to help get on top of the crisis warning it cannot wait until a new Prime Minister is in post at the start of September.

Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all also called for urgent action.

But speaking after his meeting this morning, Mr Johnson once again refused to intervene saying it would be wrong to make such a big decision before Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss have replaced him.

He said: “Countries around the world are feeling the impact of Putin’s damaging war in Ukraine.

“We know that this will be a difficult winter for people across the UK, which is why we are doing everything we can to support them and must continue to do so.

“Following our meeting today, we will keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost of living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security.”

Outlining the support already made available, he added: “We are continuing to roll out government support over the coming months, including the second £324 instalment of the cost of living payment for vulnerable households, extra help for pensioners and those with disabilities, and the £400 energy bills discount for all households.”

Bosses of companies such as British Gas, EDF and E.ON, agreed to continue to work closely with the Government over the coming weeks to ensure that the public were supported by higher energy costs caused by Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

Mr Zahawi added said: “In the spirit of national unity, they agreed to work with us to do more to help the people who most need it.”

Treasury officials said the Chancellor warned the bosses that the Government “continues to evaluate the extraordinary profits seen in certain parts of the electricity generation sector” and that it would take “appropriate and proportionate steps” if necessary.

British Gas owner Centrica reported operating profits of £1.3billion in the first six months of 2022.

E.On made adjusted earnings before interest and tax of £245million in the UK.

Meanwhile, EDF made £728million in the UK in the first six months of this year.

Earlier this year the Government announced it was introducing a windfall tax on energy companies to help pay for subsidy payments given to UK households for gas and electricity bills.

There have been demands for the tax, set to raise £5billion, to be tippled in order to further help hard-working Britons.

Ms Truss has already rejected taking such action if she wins the Tory leadership contest, saying: “With a windfall tax, it might secure money in the short term but it puts off companies investing in Britain in the long term.”

Instead, she has promised to reverse the national insurance hike and suspend green levies on energy bills to help ease the burden.

Mr Sunak said he would provide further help to families struggling with bills in the coming months.

He said he wanted to keep “any one-off borrowing to an absolute minimum” and would “first seek efficiency savings across Whitehall to provide direct support for families to help with the unprecedented situation we face”.

Reacting to the failure to announce further measures today, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “It is appalling that the Conservatives still haven’t announced any extra support for families and pensioners facing the hardest winter in decades.

“The cruellest element of this chaos is that those who could actually help, Truss and Sunak, are more interested in speaking to their party than taking the action our country needs.

“Whether it’s Johnson or Zahawi, Truss or Sunak, not one of them has a big enough plan to help millions of families cope with soaring energy bills.”

The Labour Party said: “Britain faces disastrous power cuts. For 12 years the Tory government has failed to prepare and refused to invest.

“Labour would upgrade 19 million homes and accelerate the renewable energy rollout to cut bills for good.”