Rishi Sunak bowed to months of pressure over the cost of living crisis with a £15bn package of support, part-funded by executing a remarkable U-turn to impose a windfall tax on energy companies.
Announcing the measures on Thursday, in a bruising week for the government, the chancellor said his “significant set of interventions” would help the poorest in society – with a one-off £650 payment for 8 million families on means-tested benefits, alongside an extra £200 for all energy bill payers that will not have to be repaid.
