Liz Truss promises energy crisis plan within week of being prime minister

Tory leadership candidate Liz Truss has said she would reveal a plan to deal with the energy price crisis within week of being prime minister.

On Monday, either the foreign secretary or former chancellor Rishi Sunak will be announced as the next leader of the Conservative party and the Boris Johnson’s successor as PM.

Truss would not be drawn on specifics of what action she would take to help people with energy bills.

Speaking to BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Truss said: “I will act if I’m elected as prime minister. I will act immediately on bills and on energy supply because I think those two things go hand in hand.

“We need to deal with the immediate problem, we need to help people. We need to help businesses. But we also need to sort out the supply issues.”

Repeatedly pressed on what form that action would take, Truss said: “Before you have been elected as prime minister, you don’t have all the wherewithal to get the things done.

“So, this is why it will take a week to sort out the precise plans and make sure we are able to announce them. That is why I cannot go into details at this stage. It would be wrong. But what I want to be very clear about with the public is I understand that this is a huge problem.

“I understand people are worried and I want to reassure people that I am absolutely determined to sort out this issue as well as within a month, present a full plan for how we are going to reduce taxes, how we’re going to get the British economy going, and how we are going to find our way out of these very difficult times.”

Responding having watched the interview, comedian Joe Lycett said he felt “reassured”.

He said Truss gave “very clear answers”.

It comes as new analysis shows one in ten people in Scotland have no money left after covering essential monthly expenses – before energy bills are set to rocket.

Around 452,958 people in Scotland are estimated to be left without cash after paying their taxes, housing, utilities and food costs.

Monthly household bills are expected to rise by around £169 from next month, with the energy price cap increasing from October 1.

Nicola Sturgeon has accused the UK Government of a “dereliction of duty” on tackling the cost of living crisis that “people will neither forgive nor forget”.

The First Minister will set out the Scottish Government’s plans for the year ahead when MSPs return to Holyrood on Tuesday – the same day the next prime minister will visit the Queen in Balmoral to ask to form a government.