CONSUMER champion Martin Lewis has fumed at the Government’s suggestion that little can be done about the energy crisis until Boris Johnson’s successor is appointed.
This comes as it has been revealed that six million homes across the UK owe an average of £206 to their energy provider, according to a survey from Uswitch.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Lewis was asked by presenter Charlotte Hawkins about the Government being adamant that decisions cannot be made until either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak becomes prime minister.
Lewis said: “What a load of bull. That’s complete bull. I won’t use the final word on the back of it, that is just simply not true.
“Let’s be very plain. In May, when the Government was facing political problems due to Boris Johnson, they were planning to make announcements on energy in July and August.
“That was brought forward in May and the mechanism for bringing it forward in May is they asked Ofgem to publish forward guidance of what the price cap would be and they were therefore able to crystalise what was happening and they made the announcements of the up to £1200 available for the poorest homes.
“There is absolutely nothing stopping the Government doing that now.”
In July, the SNP slammed Tory leadership contenders Sunak and Truss for their “shameful” failure to set out clear plans on how they will tackle the energy crisis.
Energy sector bosses are now set to take part in crisis talks with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi as the price cap is expected to hit more than £4200 in January.
Lewis continued: “We have a party in government that controls the majority of the House of Commons, that’s how our political system works.
“The fact that there is internecine warfare between two candidates to lead that party does not stop the Government doing anything.
Charlotte Hawkins: The govt are adamant that nothing can be done until the new PM comes in? Martin Lewis: What a load of bull, that's complete bull.. that's simply not true.. this is a national crisis on the scale of the pandemic.. the govt is sitting there like zombies#GMB pic.twitter.com/Ers6KISrqZ
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) August 10, 2022
“Those two candidates could make an agreement of what’s going to happen so the idea that they can’t do anything is wrong.”
On Monday, Nicola Sturgeon called on Boris Johnson to hold an emergency four-nation meeting to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Lewis added: “They [Truss and Sunak] are not willing to do anything. They are not willing to work together and what we have right now is a national crisis coming on the scale of the pandemic.
“This is absolutely catastrophic and for a government to sit there like Zombies saying we can’t do anything.
“Well when you run an organisation which I have done and many other people have done, when you know there is a crisis of magnificent proportions coming, you do not say ‘oh we’ll just have to wait until we’ve got a change in our leadership,’ you start dealing with it now.
“It is awful what is coming.”
