Boris Johnson in ‘lower bills’ talks with energy bosses but leaves action to next leader – as it happened

Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended an energy round table at No11 Downing Street, hosted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi. Photograph: Kyle Heller/No10 Downing Street

3.20pm BST

Closing summary: Increased windfall tax 'not preferred option' of ministers

The UK government is in a tricky situation, with the prospect of genuinely enormous energy price rises for households but no leader able to commit to big policy actions.

Boris Johnson, still just about prime minister for another fourish weeks, tried to show he is gripping the issue by unexpectedly turning up at a meeting of energy company bosses on Thursday.

However, he told energy bosses that he is leaving any big decisions to his successor, the Treasury said.

The government has been careful to keep the option of further taxes on the table for the next prime minister, but it did not express much enthusiasm for more windfall taxes in the meeting, the Guardian’s Alex Lawson reports. An energy industry source briefed on the meeting said:

It was a constructive discussion about ways to support customers and accelerate investments in energy security in the UK. It was clear the windfall tax is not a preferred option for anyone – ministers or electricity companies.

Zahawi, who is widely expected to be demoted from chancellor by a new leader, said that energy firms agreed to “do more” to help the most vulnerable households with bills, but the Treasury did not provide details of what help that might be, or who it counts as the people who need more help.

Johnson also said that he wanted to see more investments from energy companies in renewable energy and biomass, but also added that he wanted firms to do more drilling of oil and gas in the North Sea.

Tomorrow we will get a first reading of how badly the UK economy was affected by the energy crisis in the second quarter of 2022, with the Office for National Statistics publishing GDP figures.

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Thanks for reading our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as ever today. Do join me again tomorrow morning for the UK’s second-quarter GDP reading. JJ

2.40pm BST

We have pictures from inside the government’s meeting with energy bosses.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended an energy round table at No11 Downing Street with chancellor Nadhim Zahawi (left) and business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and bosses from some of the UK’s biggest energy companies. Photograph: Kyle Heller/No10 Downing Street

All of the photos are focused on outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, so it is unclear which bosses attended in person and which were on a video call.

We also know of several other companies who joined the meeting (beyond those mentioned earlier). They were retailer provider Octopus Energy, oil trader Vitol, generator Intergen, renewables investor Greencoat Capital and lobby group Energy UK.

Some energy bosses joined the meeting via video call. Photograph: Kyle Heller/No10 Downing Street

Updated at 2.41pm BST