Boris Johnson has been slammed after a crunch meeting with energy bosses ended with no new help for people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
The prime minister, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held talks with energy and gas executives this morning amid dire warnings that energy bills could reach an eye-watering £5,000 next April.
But despite calls for government action, Johnson told the companies that any “significant fiscal decisions” would be for the next prime minister to take after they take office on September 6.
Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “Britain faces a national emergency with rising energy bills and a cost of living crisis. Families are worried about how they will pay their bills.
“But instead of showing leadership, the Conservatives are missing in action. The prime minister and chancellor have gone AWOL, whilst the candidates for the leadership have no substantive ideas about how to help working people meet the challenges they face.”
Following today’s meeting, the PM said: “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.”
The Treasury said that Zahawi and the energy firms agreed to “work closely” over the coming weeks to ensure that the public, including vulnerable customers, are supported in the face of rising costs.
“In the spirit of national unity, they agreed to work with us to do more to help the people who most need it,” Zahawi added.
In response, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was “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,” he added.
“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.
“That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to cancel the energy price hike to avoid a country-wide catastrophe.”
The Tories have come under increasing fire for failing to take action until either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss is elected to replace Johnson.
The meeting comes as forecasts released today by energy consultancy Auxilione predicted that the energy price cap could increase to £5,038 per year for the average household in the three months beginning next April.
It is an even worse than a forecast provided by Cornwall Insight earlier this week which said energy bills could hit £4,200 per year in January.