PM candidate Truss vows support for Britons, plans panel of economic advisers

Liz Truss promised immediate financial support for households and vowed to take action in her first week in office to fix the UK’s energy supply, assuming she’s named prime minister on Monday.

Writing in the Telegraph, which has long supported her candidacy over Rishi Sunak in the contest to replace Boris Johnson, Truss said her chancellor of the exchequer -- expected to be Treasury Minister Kwasi Kwarteng -- will then deliver a broader package of measures in what she called a “fiscal event at the end of the month.”

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With household power bills set to hit £3,549 ($4,085) a year starting next month, and business groups warning of shutdowns if the matter of surging energy costs isn’t addressed, Truss needs some early wins to ensure her Conservative Party lawmakers and the broader electorate are on her side.

Liz Truss Sunak

Conservative leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak stand together as they attend a hustings event, part of the Conservative party leadership campaign, in London, Britain on August 31, 2022. (Reuters)

According to the Times, the cost of Truss’s overall plans for the economy -- ranging from reversing a planned increase in the national insurance payroll tax to a temporary cut in business rates ---- will easily exceed £100 billion. Most of it will be added to government borrowing.

Truss plans to set up a council of economic advisers to help steer her and her finance minister. Gerard Lyons, chief economic strategist at online wealth manager Netwealth and a former adviser to Johnson during his time as London mayor, is in line for a role on that panel, the Telegraph reported.

In a separate article for the newspaper, Lyons backed capping the price of wholesale gas produced in the UK.

“It will also allow the government to focus on guaranteeing future supply,” he wrote. “It is a simple measure and it can be executed in a way that keeps the cost to the government down.”

Read more:

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