Treasury preparing 11th hour package to soften national cost of living crisis
The Treasury is scrambling to complete 11th hour plans capable of softening a national cost of living crisis, including a £200 rebate on energy bills and more help for the poorest households.
No 10 and the Treasury have been under pressure from Tory MPs to act as millions of households brace for a record hike in energy bills from April, and the prospect of rising mortgage rates and tax increases.
With the Conservatives sliding in the polls and Boris Johnson under fire over parties in No 10 during lockdown, the prime minister and his chancellor Rishi Sunak met to stitch together a multi-billion pound package to address concerns about household bills.
Downing Street repeatedly refused to comment on Wednesday on the idea of a £200 discount on energy bills, backed by a £5.4bn plan to make loans available to energy suppliers which would be repayable over several years.
However, the measures are expected to be a major plank of the package due to be announced as soon as Thursday.
The Treasury is also understood to be considering a targeted approach to help the most vulnerable families by doubling the payouts from an existing winter fuel payments scheme and extending its reach to include more families.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, is to announce on Thursday morning a rise in the current cap on energy bills will bring steepest hike for default energy tariffs on record. This threatens to catapult the average home energy bill to almost £2,000 a year from April, from £1,277 over the winter, plunging millions into fuel poverty.
In an unprecedented move, Ofgem agreed to bring forward its scheduled announcement for the new cap on default energy tariffs from Monday to align with the Treasury’s plan to set out a series of measures to help ease
Read more on theguardian.com
