Boris' 'summer of drift': PM accused of ignoring cost of living crisis as Tory candidates pledge to take action

9 August 2022, 01:37 | Updated: 9 August 2022, 01:47

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of abandoning Brits amid the cost of living crisis in a bid to pass the issue on to his successor.

Mr Johnson will not introduce any immediate measures to help people with the crisis, Downing Street confirmed on Monday.

A spokesman said it would be up to his successor to make any decisions for the millions of struggling people.

Mr Johnson also rejected a call to work with Tory leadership candidates on a new cost of living package before he leaves office.

He is set to leave in early September, and No10 said "by convention it is not for this prime minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period".

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However the government is facing growing pressure to do more to ease the crisis. LBC has received multiple calls from people struggling in the crisis, including mothers going several days without a square meal who have been forced to eat their children’s leftovers.

There have been calls for Tory leadership rivals Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to step up in advance to ensure Brits are not hit with further issues.

The pair have also used the crisis to drive their campaigns, with inflation set to spike above 13% in October, the energy price cap expected to surge and a recession forecast.

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Gordon Brown called for an emergency budget to avert a 'financial time bomb' coming in October when energy bills will rise again.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "All this Tory prime minister does is shrug his shoulders."

CBI directory general Tony Danker has called for ‘all hands to the pump’ and Nicola Sturgeon has called for an emergency summit of the devolved governments.

Mr Danker said: "The economic situation people and businesses are facing requires all hands to the pump this summer.

"We simply cannot afford a summer of Government inactivity while the leadership contest plays out followed by a slow start from a new prime minister and cabinet.

"The Prime Minister and Chancellor should be taking the next few weeks to grip the emerging crisis and the planning required to tackle it. This will also give their successor - whomever that may be - the very best chance of getting quickly out of the blocks."

He added that the Prime Minister and the candidates vying to replace him - Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss - should "come together to agree a common pledge to support people and help quell fears".

The CBI also called for top civil servants to be directed to draft options to help struggling households ahead of a new prime minister being selected.

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The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Johnson - who is now back in No10 following his holiday in Slovenia - would be speaking to Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure that support measures due to come into effect later in the year remained on track.

But the spokesman added that any further measures would be a matter for Mr Johnson's successor once the Tory leadership contest concludes.

"The Government recognised that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the (energy) price cap," the spokesman said.

"That is why, at the start of the summer, we introduced a number of measures to help the public. Clearly, some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.

"By convention it is not for this Prime Minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for a future prime minister."

Responding to this, Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "People are worried sick about how they'll pay their bills and do their weekly food shop, and all this Tory Prime Minister does is shrug his shoulders.

"An economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action - but instead we have a Tory party that's lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same.

"Labour would start by scrapping tax breaks on oil and gas producers and providing more help to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills."

Brown: Cost of living crisis is national emergency

Writing for the Daily Record newspaper on Monday, former Labour prime minister Mr Brown issued a plea for "urgent measures" to cover further rises in fuel bills amid "millions standing on the edge of a financial precipice".

Mr Brown added: "The facts right now are grim: four in every five pensioners, four in every five single parents and four in every five large families face fuel poverty - that's when their energy bills come to more than 10 per cent of their weekly incomes.

"About 35 million people in 13.5 million households are under threat of fuel poverty in October - that's an unprecedented 49.6% of the UK."

He warned that if no action is taken ahead of a further price rise in January, the number of fuel poor in the UK could reach 39 million people in 15 million households.

Mr Brown said: "Cobra, the UK Government's disaster emergency committee, should be in permanent session to deal with the coming fuel and energy crisis.

"Even if Boris Johnson has gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently creating the extra storage capacity we currently lack.

"We should be persuading homes and buildings - as Germany is now doing - to cut back on energy usage wherever possible in the hope we can prevent formal rationing."

He also said that Mr Johnson, Mr Sunak and Ms Truss should get together to plan and agree an immediate budget to prevent a "winter heating catastrophe".

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Rishi Sunak pledged on Monday that as PM he would tackle the crisis using the framework he put in place as Chancellor.

He said: "This winter is going to be extremely tough for families up and down the country, and there is no doubt in my mind that more support will be needed.

"In Spring I set out a series of measures to provide help, with the most support targeted at the most vulnerable. But bills are going up by more than anyone expected and the next government will need to act.

"As Chancellor I put in place a framework to support hard working families and pensioners to bring bills down.

"People need proven methods that will deliver for them quickly. So I will use the framework I created to provide further support and give millions of people the peace of mind they desperately need ahead of the winter.

"I'm very clear about what is required to help people, and as soon as we know how much bills will go up by, I will act."

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Meanwhile, Liz Truss has pledged to deliver from day one for everyone in the country as a tough winter approaches.

She told the Express that immediately cutting the 1.25 per cent national insurance hike and temporarily suspending the green levy on energy bills will help people deal with high costs. 

She added: "I am an optimist about the future of this country.

"I believe the best days are ahead of us.

"And I think by keeping taxes low, attracting business investment into this country, getting those post Brexit reforms done… that is the way we are going to succeed, not by talking down our country."