Liz Truss is under mounting pressure to cave in and freeze energy bills as she prepares to enter Downing Street today.
Struggling families desperate for help hope she will finally unveil her plan for easing the cost of living crisis once she becomes Prime Minister this afternoon.
She could be about to unleash a £100billion package of support, including freezing bills, which would be a triumph for the Mirror, Labour and the Lib Dems.
Campaigners said after eight weeks of the Tory leadership contest where she repeatedly refused to outline a rescue blueprint, the time has come for her to finally say what she will do.
Ms Truss is due to address the nation live from No10 at 4pm.
And households braced for the energy price cap to rocket from £1,971 to £3,549 on October 1 want her to set out specific support.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “We want an energy freeze; it’s vital for families and households across the country.
“There’s no justification for an incoming Prime Minister not doing it because the political will is there across the political parties.” Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey added: “The Government needs to scrap October’s energy price rise to avoid a socialncatastrophe for families and pensioners this winter.”
Families are also battling rampant inflation of 10.1%, spiking food prices and mortgage rate hikes. Ms Truss’s team has stayed tight-lipped about what support might be on offer.
However, a source said: “The plan is to introduce some kind of artificial price cap for consumers combined with a mechanism for reimbursing suppliers.”
They added: “Plans are reasonably well advanced and involve not just civil servants but ministers lined up for jobs by Truss.”
One method to freeze bills could be underwriting loans to utilities firms that are then clawed back from future taxes. However, the move would trigger claims of a U-turn after Ms Truss previously insisted she would not deliver “handouts” to hard-up families.
MPs set for ministerial jobs were told by her team “in no uncertain times” not to trash the idea that gas and electricity bills may be frozen.
But while soaring household costs dominated the Tory leadership race, Ms Truss devoted just 12 words out of her 387-word victory speech to the energy hikes yesterday – and did not even mention the cost of living crisis.
She told activists at Westminster’s QEII Conference Centre: “I will deliver on the energy crisis – dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
Ms Truss spent far longer in her four-minute, 43-second speech praising Boris Johnson and the Tory Party machinery than addressing the deepening economic misery.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby piled pressure on the incoming PM to help the poor.
He said: “May God guide her, and all who serve in our political life, towards His hope for our nation, and particular care for those who are vulnerable.”
Experts told of the urgency for a plan as Ms Truss takes up residence in Downing Street today.
The Children’s Society boss Mark Russell said: “It’s absolutely vital that the new Prime Minister acts quickly to address the cost of living crisis hitting families across the country and leaving parents facing impossible choices between eating and heating.
“That means introducing long-term sustainable support; no parent should have to reach crisis to receive help.”
Barnardo’s chief executive Lynn Perry said: “We are deeply concerned that so many families across the UK are now struggling with the cost of living crisis, especially as 3.9 million children were already living in poverty in 2020-21.
“We hope the new Prime Minister will attend to these issues urgently to create safer childhoods and
positive futures across the UK.”
Health Foundation chief executive Jennifer Dixon warned “without further support, the outlook looks very bleak for people and public services this winter”.
She added: “The new Prime Minister must urgently come forward with a plan to prevent the cost of living crisis from becoming a health crisis.”
Yet just 19% of voters have confidence in her Government to tackle the rising cost of living, according to a YouGov poll of 2,488 adults yesterday.
Only 14% believe she will be a better PM than Mr Johnson, with 27% saying she will be even worse.
