Liz Truss under pressure to reveal details of energy crisis plan
An emergency budget to bring in winter tax cuts for millions of people and set out more detail on energy handouts is expected late next week once the country emerges from national mourning.
Though politics has been paralysed by the death of the Queen, Liz Truss is under pressure from Tory MPs to set out her plans potentially on Thursday or Friday next week, before the Commons breaks up for party conferences.
The national mourning has completely overshadowed the announcement of the £150bn energy cap, and left Whitehall trying to finalise the details of any budget at the same time as organising the state funeral.
The new prime minister is planning to travel to the UN general assembly in New York in the days following the Queen’s funeral, returning in time to sit alongside her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in the Commons as he delivers his fiscal event.
The timetable for the trip suggests that No 10 has given up hope of arranging a meeting for the new prime minister with Joe Biden at the White House. The US president and other world leaders are expected to travel to the UK for the funeral, but there will be no official bilateral meetings out of respect for the period of mourning.
A minute’s silence for a “shared moment of national reflection” will be held at 8pm on Sunday 18 September, the day before the Queen’s funeral on Monday 19, which will be a bank holiday.
Truss’s spokesperson said she was still planning to hold a fiscal event this month. The most obvious day would be Thursday 22 September, as parliamentary business has been postponed until after Wednesday 21 and Truss is likely to be in New York until then.
However, it could be on the Friday if recess were to be delayed, buttressing the Labour party conference, which begins
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