PRIME Minister Liz Truss has been forced to apologise for bungling the specifics of her government’s energy price cap during a car crash round of local radio interviews last week.
When Truss was interviewed by a series of local BBC Radio stations on Thursday ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, she repeatedly stated that consumers' power bills would be “no more than £2500”.
However, Truss was accused of mixing up the "basic facts" of her own policy in seven our of eight.
A fact-checking service wrote to the PM to demand that she clarify the government’s position, as the cap is on unit price and depends on each household's usage. After the PM's apology, Full Fact urged her to go further to clarify her position.
Five days later, Truss was forced to admit she “should have been more specific”, and admitted that her phrasing could have been misleading to consumers who are worried about their upcoming bills.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC, the PM was initially asked if the UK Government will be giving any extra assistance to those with mortgages now that rates are set to rise following the introduction of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget.
Truss claimed that interest rates are going up globally due to the “international economic situation”.
She said: “We're doing what we can to help homeowners, for example, by reducing stamp duty, helping people get on the housing ladder, but I wouldn't dismiss what we've done on energy bills.
“It is a massive, it's a massive intervention, Nick, where people could have been facing bills of £6000. We've kept that down to £2500 for a typical household.
“Not just this winter, but also for the next winter as well. So that is providing security to a huge number of households across the country.”
Ferrari then pointed out that Truss had said in her local radio interview round last week that bills would be capped at £2500. He said: "How come you were wrong twice? Because the bills aren't capped at £2500 pounds, why did you get it wrong twice?”
Truss, rowing back on her previous claims, said: “I was talking about the typical bill. What we're actually doing is capping it per unit of energy, and that’s the number I gave...”
Ferarri interrupted to say: “Of course if I use more power...”
Truss replied: “Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t more specific.”
Asked if she got it wrong, the PM said: “I should have been more specific."
Asked a second time if she was admitting she had made a mistake, Truss replied, “I agree, I should have been more specific."
Truss made the claim during interviews with BBC Radio Leeds, Radio Kent, Radio Lancashire, Radio Nottingham, Radio Tees, Radio Bristol and Radio Stoke. Her interview with Radio Norfolk was dominated by questions on fracking and didn't include the energy cap claim.
In her final interview with Radio Stoke, Truss was asked simply: "Have you taken the keys to the country and crashed the economy?"
She said: "What we've done is we've taken decisive action on energy. So, from this weekend, we've made sure that families are paying no more than £2500 typical bill on energy this winter and next winter."
Will Moy, Chief Executive of Full Fact, said: "We welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has acknowledged her mistake in an interview, but this is the least we expect.
"Rising energy costs will affect us all, and politicians must be clear about the support available - especially when large numbers of people are confused about what the price cap means for them.
"The Government must do more to clarify this mess. More than 32,000 people have joined Full Fact's campaign for honesty in politics. Any politician serious about earning the public's trust should be prepared to correct their mistakes."
It comes after a screeching U-turn from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng over scrapping the top rate of tax for the highest earners.
