Liz Truss has promised that she will “ride out the storm” and make sure that people will not face unacceptable energy bills.
In her first speech as Prime Minister on Tuesday, Truss dodged a downpour in Whitehall before making her promise to “get Britain working” by spelling out that her priority was to cut taxes.
Truss paid tribute to Boris Johnson as a “hugely consequential” Prime Minister as she prepared to take over as the third Tory Prime Minister since David Cameron resigned over the Brexit referendum result in 2016.
As well as a promise to focus on NHS reform, a responsibility for the SNP government in Scotland, Truss said she will take action this week to tackle energy bills and secure energies supplies.
Truss is planning to cap energy bills for households and businesses at around £2,500 a year to help the UK cope with the cost of living crisis.
Energy bills for households are currently capped at £1,971 but are set to rise by 80 per cent to £3,549 from October 1.
Under the new prime minister’s plan, the cost of gas used for electricity and heating would be capped.
Once the £400 universal handout announced by Rishi Sunak in the spring to help with bills is added to the current cap, it brings the new upper limit to around £2,400 a year.
The new Prime Minister was swept into Downing Street accompanied by a downpour of rain to met by parliamentary colleagues and staff.
Her speech came as YouGov released a new poll suggesting Labour has a 15-point lead over the Conservatives. That is a seven-point increase on the previous week.
The polling carried out last week put the Conservatives on 28 per cent and Labour on 43 per cent with the Lib Dems on 11 per cent and the SNP on five per cent.
On Wednesday night Truss began naming her cabinet with Kwasi Kwarteng appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.
James Cleverly was appointed Foreign Secretary and Therese Coffey became Health Secretary.
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