Liz Truss, frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest, has rejected corporate pleas for her to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson and rival Rishi Sunak to “agreed a common pledge” on tackling the cost of living.
Speaking in Darlington on Tuesday during final pleadings for party members, the secretary of state this week opposed the suggestion of Tony DankerCBI director general that the severity of the economic crisis required “all hands at the pump”.
The head of Britain’s employers’ organization warned that the public and businesses across the country cannot cope with a “summer of government inactivity” as the Conservative party elects its new leader.
But Truss argued that Johnson and current Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi were “skilled people, capable of making these decisions” about the economy.
“I think it would be constitutionally very undesirable to try to rule them over with some kind of made-up committee of the CBI, me and Rishi Sunak,” she said, adding, “This kangaroo committee you’re proposing sounds bizarre.”
Her comments were made when figures published by the consultancy Cornwall Insight revealed that the UK energy price cap for household bills is expected to rise from an average of £1,971 a year to £4,266 in January and £4,427 in April, a move that will lower the cost of living for millions. .
In recent days, business and political leaders have called on the government to implement emergency financial measures before the fall.
The CBI has urged Johnson to bring both Truss and Sunak together ahead of the announcement of Ofgem’s price cap on Aug. 26, in order to find consensus on how to deal with rising fuel bills. It called on the government to notify the Bureau of Fiscal Responsibility that an emergency budget is likely.
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And in a rare intervention over the weekend, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Truss, Johnson and Sunak to meet this week to agree an emergency budget. observer newspaper that impending energy price hikes in October would be a “financial time bomb” for families.
However, Downing Street has argued that any “major fiscal intervention” in the coming weeks will be made by a future prime minister.
Johnson said Tuesday he was “absolutely confident” that his successor would have “fiscal firepower and headroom” to support the public through the cost of living crisis.
Truss, which according to the latter youGov poll leads the former chancellor by 38 percentage points, has rejected the idea of tax hikes and additional government subsidies, describing it as “Gordon Brown economy”.
“I understand people are struggling with their fuel and food bills, but the first thing we as conservatives should do is help people get more of their own money,” she told Tory party members on Tuesday evening. “What I don’t support is taking money from people in the form of taxes and then giving it back in alms.”
However, when asked if she was willing to issue grants or handouts at “any stage” in her premiership, she declined to rule it out completely: “I’m not going to say in mid-August what’s in the Budget later this year. , but what I’m saying philosophically is that I’m always in favor of people loving their own money more first.’
Sunak argued that government packages would be the most effective way to provide aid to the most vulnerable in society.
“The only way to help them is with direct support, because tax cuts alone don’t do much good if you’re a retiree not making extra money,” he told audiences in Darlington.