Tory ministers face a backlash over “demented” plans to send Brits to their GP - for a doctor’s note discount off energy bills.
The idea is one of several drawn up by Treasury officials to cut bills this winter - and Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak could choose whether to implement it once in No10.
But Labour said ministers had “lost the plot” as waits to see a GP are already so high - and doctors don’t hold Brits’ financial records.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Conservatives have lost the plot on the cost of living crisis and haven’t got a clue about the level of pressure on the NHS.”
The radical option, revealed by the Sun on Sunday and confirmed by sources to the Mirror, was drawn up by officials as one way of targeting money to those who need it.
As bills soar as high as £6,000 a year, the GP would chat to the patient and verify if they needed help due to being sick, elderly, or “just in need”, it is reported.
They would then write a note saying the person should get money off gas and electricity, via cash from the local council or a voucher.
But Dr David Wrigley of doctors' union the BMA said: "At a time when GPs are already overwhelmed with the greatest workforce crisis and longest waiting lists in memory, this addition to their workload is totally unacceptable.
"It beggars belief that Government ministers think it is appropriate to suggest GPs undertake this work.
"In these next few months GPs already have to worry about delivering the Covid and flu vaccination programmes that will be necessary to see the NHS through the winter, on top of their daily crushing workload and the enormous Covid backlog we now see.
"They do not have the time or the skills to do the work of the welfare system.
"The Government has not discussed this with us in any form - floating these sorts of proposals via the media is deeply unprofessional.
"We completely reject any suggestion that GPs do this work."
It came as Tory Kwasi Kwarteng - a Liz Truss supporter who is tipped to become her Chancellor - insisted: “I want to reassure the British people that help is coming."
The Business Secretary said: “I understand the deep anxiety this is causing. As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going make ends meet.”
He added Ms Truss "will look at what more can be done to help families" but insisted it is "entirely reasonable not to detail the exact shape of that support until she has all the information to hand".
A government source told the Mirror the GP note idea was “potentially serious and definitely of interest.”
While the source admitted it would take “a lot more work” they said it was one to consider, and it would be interesting to see how officials suggest it could work.
But Sam Freedman of the Institute for Government, a former advisor to Michael Gove, said: “This is one of the most demented ideas I've ever seen. I don't know where to start.
“Obviously it's not going to happen - overloading GPs, who have no basis to make a decision like that anyway, during a massive NHS crisis is too stupid for anyone to do.
“But how did even emerge at all?”
Politics professor Rob Ford added: “Generate an enormous surge in demand for a service already overwhelmed, at the time of year when demand for it spikes anyway, covering an issue they have zero training, experience or information about.
“What could possibly go wrong?”
Pollster Chris Curtis tweeted: “Tax break for people who are really good at dialing the numbers at dead on 8am.”
Journalist John Bull added: "Siri, show me a plan by someone who hasn't tried to get a GP appointment in the last four years”.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth tweeted: “Eh? Just freeze bills for goodness sake.”
Ms Truss has refused to spell out if she will give cash “handouts” in an emergency budget, which the Sunday Times reports is pencilled in for September 21.
Last night she complained there is "too much talk that there's going to be a recession”, despite it being predicted by the Bank of England.
The economy shrank by 0.6% in June and forecasters predicted it will contract throughout 2023 as the Ukraine war sends prices skyrocketing.
But Ms Truss instead it can be averted if people stop saying it’s going to happen.
She has pinned her hopes on immediate tax cuts spurring growth of the economy. Rival Rishi Sunak has said this will involve tens of billions in borrowing and drive inflation even higher.
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, Ms Truss promised a "small business and self-employed revolution" to help turn things around.
"Those are the future big companies we need to develop - and why shouldn't Britain have the next Google or the next Facebook? Why shouldn't it be a British company?" she said.
"It's about that level of ambition. There is too much talk that there's going to be a recession. I don't believe that's inevitable. We can unleash opportunity here in Britain."
Among Ms Truss's economic plans is a review of IR35 rules, which she argues "treat the self-employed the same as big business" and can force self-employed workers to overpay tax.
The rule was introduced in 2000 to prevent tax avoidance by "disguised employees" who do the same job as an employee but provide services through an intermediary, like a personal services company.
High-profile TV personalities have been targeted under the rules.
Top Tory Michael Gove warned on Friday that Ms Truss’ plans will put "the stock options of FTSE 100 executives" before the nation's poorest people as he backed Mr Sunak.
Vowing to retire from frontline politics, he wrote: "I am deeply concerned that the framing of the leadership debate by many has been a holiday from reality.
“The answer to the cost-of-living crisis cannot be simply to reject further 'handouts' and cut tax.
"Proposed cuts to national insurance would favour the wealthy, and changes to corporation tax apply to big businesses, not small entrepreneurs."
A new poll last night gave Labour an eight-point lead over the Tories, the largest since Opinium introduced a new methodology in February.
The survey of 2,001 adults this week put Labour on a 39% vote share to the Tories' 31%, and gave a boost to Sir Keir Starmer, with respondents preferring him to either Ms Truss or Mr Sunak.
