Boris Johnson's "infallible" Declaration that his successor would be more supportive of the energy bill skyrocketing, but this does not hide the Conservative Party's failure to grasp the scale of the cost of living crisis. I am more concerned with my image with the public than with helping them.
We hear that the government is planning a £20m advertising campaign to promote (insufficient) measures to help struggling households. The move was frowned upon at Whitehall. Government officials personally believe that the interim government would be better off pushing the boundaries of what it can do and using the money to pay off family members.
The campaign was approved by the Cabinet Office. That being said, one insider said: It raises the question of validity. It's not something the government should do at this point. That contradicts hoopla from some ministers about finding efficiency savings.
It's the same story in the Conservative leadership race. Liz Truss is interested in her three-point plan – 'Taxes, Taxes, Taxes' – for a narrow constituency of 160,000 members, which will help millions Reassuring desperately worried people that they need more help. How. She dismissed the "handout" as "Gordon Brown's Economics" – taking taxes with one hand and giving back some of it with the other. 26}, CBI Executive Director Tony Dunker, and savings expert Martin Lewis said Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Truss will meet to agree on at least some new measures. It should, and public anxiety will be partially alleviated. Johnson could have done it, but there is no interest,hiding behind the excuse that his government is now unable to make major financial decisions.
His Sunak, who plans to increase direct payments to low-income households if he becomes Prime Minister, is open to the idea of talks, while acknowledging his differences with Truss. But shedismissed her thoughts on her last night's brawl in Darlington as "weird". She would rather play the tax card.
Although Truss claims to be a flexible politician, her stubbornness in the face of the cost of living crisis proves that she is Johnson's continuation candidate, but in a positive sense. No. Resigning prime ministers often undermined their standing among the public and among Tory lawmakers by slowly and reluctantly changing course. Truss should remember the adage, "If you're going to make a U-turn, do it now."
A change of heart in favor of more direct payments is inevitable. The only question is whether she will do it during or after the leadership contest. Some of her Truss supporters, including Sajid Javid, are urging her to act quickly. Her ally, James Cleverly, told BBC Radio 4 that she is considering announcing "targeted support" as prime minister next month.
Beyond the closed doors of Whitehall, her seemingly quiet August is unlikely. Officials make a fuss about how to turn the two candidates' ideas into policy. An insider said if Truss became prime minister, the "chilling realities" of the energy bill would soon force her to increase direct payments to low-income earnersin May. Sunak announcedthat his £15 billion package is based on average domestic bills rising to £2,800 annually. Whitehall's estimatessuggest claims will rise to around £3,500 in October and £4,200 in January, in line with projections from Cornwall Insight. figures will be confirmed by Energy Regulator Ofgem on August 26.)
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Whitehall has heard more bad news for the incoming Prime Minister. increase. The £30bn fiscal space under which Truss' plans are built has shrunk since it was estimated in March, and her proposed tax cuts would break fiscal rules promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto. In particular, by 2024, it will balance its revenues with its daily expenditures-25. That's it.
Truss would undoubtedly dismiss such warnings as further "doom and gloom" from the "mass of Whitehall" she is ready to undertake. Some supporters privately suggest that "anti-Tory, anti-Brexit, politically correct" officials who are part of the liberal metropolitan elite are preparing to thwart some of her plans I do. That's nonsense. Officials are prepared to help the new prime minister put his plans into action, not derail or dilute them. Whitehall did the same job for Jeremy Corbyn. That her job was almost necessary in 2017, she did just as well, in a warm bubble of Tories talking to herself, not the country.
