To ask what you think the new PM will do about the energy crisis in the coming weeks

[EverydayIsPJday]

Genuinely have no idea. Does anyone think the cap may be frozen/avoided for October? Or grants issued for those on benefits? I can't see a viable option ATM which doesn't miss large chunks of people out who are also struggling or just delaying (additional) national debt.

Fracking came up the other day at the hustings.
LT said ' we will allow fracking where communities are happy to let it happen '
Good luck with that one Liz ..

She'll do fuck all. None of them have a clue about how we all cope on a day to day basis and I don't really think they care. Energy companies announcing billions of pounds of profits and people like us wondering how we're going to get through the winter? I'm in a better position than thousands as I live alone - I'll put jumpers on and do whatever I can to keep warm. I'm not a big eater either and I'll stick to salads.
Why are we the only country in this situation? Unless I've got that wrong

I don't think we are the only country in this position but our government are yet to do anything except insult us about buying a kettle and bedding ourselves down for the winter. Most of us do this anyway (I'm not talking about the kettle as even my four year old can work out how f**king stupid that is....) Was it yesterday that people in Italy were publicly burning their energy bills?

I think those comparing this to COVID have a point, that this is a massive crisis beyond our immediate control, i just have no vision of the end. We (some/all of us) take handouts/minimal cuts for short term gain delaying the inevitable whilst voting for another bunch of 'leaders' to start the cycle again (blame predecessors, offer incentives which fail, publicly embarrass themselves, get flung on the burning coals when all other options are exasperated...rinse and repeat). It's crazy we're in this position.

No, after adjusting for inflation, a 5% reduction in VAT would reduce VAT revenues by a quarter. You are assuming that inflation doesn't affect government, when you assume that an unchanged number of pounds to the government is OK. If inflation is 15%, the government needs 15% more pounds to stand still, just like everyone else.,

We are in the worst of positions because we have no storage for gas (we sensibly mothballed a lot of that years ago…….) and we run a lot of our electricity producing power plants on gas….
With Russia closing the pipeline I’d imagine prices are going to only increase.
Not sure what freezing the cap at the level it is now would cost. I think it’s in the hundreds of billions.
It’s a total mess and, like for the pandemic, we are completely unprepared, as being prepared costs money and investing in infrastructure, which the tories have completely neglected.

They will reinstate Bojo and call an election. They will win

Are you joking?

I don't know what the answer is but I don't think it can just be about handing out cash. There is a problem with global energy supply and we all need to be encouraged to think about how much energy we use. Paying people's bills won't encourage that.

Most people I know are thinking of ways to cut their energy bills, but I also know some who don't think they need to bother as the government will bail us out.

What should happen is those who need it in the short term are given cash to help them through, and in the long term the uk undergoes a massivel push to energy efficiency.

It's going to be Liz Truss though, so fuck all of any use will happen while she waffles about foreign cheese and exporting tea to china.

I expect the British PM to start pushing for a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine instead of exactly the opposite. Otherwise the energy and food crisis across the world will continue to escalate leading to mass starvation and unrest. Mind you the UK public seems oblivious to how we have left thousands of Afghan children to starve to death so probably don't care.

It depends on the ESO and The Energy companies they will be working on options

"I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” she said. “I follow through on what I say I’ll do.”

Read her lips. She's making promises to higher earners, doesn't believe in redistribution, wants a smaller role for the state and is hellbent on making all our lives less safe by cutting away certain protective instruments established while we were part of the EU.

She's mad, bad and dangerous to know. And all without two braincells to rub together. As my mum used to say when we were kids, "She's not right in the head". UnPC, yes, but not untrue

I think when you have households with incomes in the £40k-£50k bracket saying they cannot afford these bills (and even those in higher brackets) the govt has to stop and take stock!

We know they have no love for benefit claimants and just chuck money at them because otherwise it would be REALLY bad press for them.

But benefit claimants are the minority!!! Huge swathes of middle, to high income earners will also be struggling to make ends meet and they're the voters, they're the people keeping the economy afloat by shopping and using restaurants and tourist spots, they're the ones buying the extras that the economy needs to be bought.

The economy was tanked already with the ridiculous covid lockdowns and not helping those who usually have some buying power will tank it further. No taxes coming in to help the lower incomes benefit top ups!

She doesn't have a plan and is unlikely to do anything meaningful at all. We need to brace ourselves for a very difficult winter, 2023 possibly even longer.

I imagine they really want whoever becomes PM to have some splashy good news. This will of course be targeted at Tory voters rather than at those most in need.

@VanishingViolet totally with you on the council tax. It's extortion

This. On top of all the other allowances she can claim no doubt, such as meals, and petrol.

She is a nasty woman and two years of listening to her nasal tones will send me over the edge :(

This 100%

many including myself will earn over the help threshold but struggle to pay the huge increase

and the £400 help so £66/67 a month won’t even touch the sides of our winter month heating bills

I can’t believe Thick Lizzie is going to be the next PM. It’ll be like watching a turnip trying to understand astrophysics.

A Tory wanker will not do anything meaningful.

No idea what the Tories can do in the short term about this if I'm being completely honest but long term I hope that this leads to renationalisation of the utility providers as this is a direct consequence of the UK allowing them to be sold off.

Hopefully this will be the final nail in the coffin for the Tories & will cost them the next election. I'm not a fan of Labour either as I'm politically fluid but anything has to be better than this!

They will do nothing in time for winter.
Whatever they do will not affect the wealthy or top tax bracket.

I am not holding my breath.

I expect we will see riots before the year is out.

The only people that May get help are those on benefits or not of working age.
They have basically been drip feeding this for days.

That's really strange because I'd say that's actually the opposite to what's been leaked so far. In fact this morning, LT was at pains to say that it will (thankfully) be a broad strokes approach - low, mid and high earners all benefitting.

Where have you read your drip feeds?

I don't know if it was Chanel 4 or sky tonight but someone said that Germany has just handed out some package and this lady said it was fhe way to go.

Obviously an incredibly vague post however, I wonder if anyone knows what the German package is?

This lady also discredited the idea that truss would let wealth trickle down by giving the wealthy tax cuts eg national insurance as absolutely untenable