Liz Truss refuses to say how she will help 22 million households with crippling energy bills. Which is pretty shoddy given she is likely to be PM in eight days.
But then Ms Truss does not worry overly much about her own gas and electric costs – she got £4,817 from taxpayers to heat her second home in Thetford, Norfolk.
Nor will energy bills be much concern to her in No10 or at her Chequers country retreat. But ours should be.
Abolishing the National Insurance rise and suspending the green levy do not even touch the sides of this national emergency.
Scrapping NI uprating saves the wealthiest 10% £93 a month but the poorest 10% just 76p.
Binning the green levy hands back just £11 between October and Christmas.
If Ms Truss thinks tinkering at the edges is going to cut it, then she’s more out of touch than the present PM. And giving a bung worth billions to the energy giants to lower prices only to pass the £320-a-year debt on to the next generation would be an act of outrageous buck-passing.
The solution is not cheap. Keir Starmer’s plan to freeze bills at their current rate carries a price tag of £29billion – paid for by oil magnates and savings from lower inflation.
It is the best option for Thetford’s one in three children already living in poverty. And the way to keep the rest of Britain affordably warm this winter.
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Victim’s legacy
The killing of Olivia Pratt-Korbel brought home in the most tragic way that while gun crime is out of control in America, there is nothing to be complacent about here.
Sentencing is not the issue. New guidelines issued in January 2021 lay down seven years for carrying a gun out in public, and 22 years for intent to endanger life.
But with guns for £200 hire in Liverpool at the touch of an encrypted app, new police methods are needed. That means specialist squads to break into apps and highly trained officers to go after the gunmen.
Nothing can bring Olivia back. But if her death sparks action to save others, it was not in vain.
Pay it forward
Ask fat-cat FTSE100 bosses why they award themselves multi-million-pound pay packets and they give the cosmetic reply: “Because we’re worth it.”
But that justification goes just skin-deep. The real reason is simply because they can.
The TUC wants worker representatives on remuneration committees to bring stratospheric salaries back to earth. And leave enough in company pay pots to help staff struggling with energy bills.
