UK: Liz Truss rejects appeal for panel with Johnson and Sunak to address cost of living

UK PM race contender Liz Truss has turned down requests from business leaders suggesting she meet outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, and her rival, Rishi Sunak, for "a common pledge" on addressing the cost of living crisis. Notably, Truss, who currently leads the former chancellor by 38% in the most recent YouGov poll, has rejected the idea of higher taxes and more grants from the government.

According to British media agencies, the Foreign Secretary rejected this week's appeal from Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), that the severity of the economic crisis required "all hands at the pump" when he made the statement during the latest hustings in front of party members in Darlington on August 9.

In order to avoid a "summer of government inactivity," the head of the UK employers' group urged the public and businesses not to wait while the Tories select a new leader. Johnson and the current chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, according to Truss, were "capable people, capable of making these decisions" regarding the economy.

She said, "This kangaroo committee you’re proposing sounds bizarre. I think it would be constitutionally deeply undesirable to try and over-rule them with a sort of made-up committee of the CBI, me and Rishi Sunak."

UK's energy price cap on household bills anticipated to rise

Truss' remarks came as data from the consultancy Cornwall Insight revealed that the UK's energy price cap on household bills is anticipated to rise from an average of £1,971 per year to £4,266 in January and £4,427 in April, a change that is expected to exacerbate the country's cost-of-living crisis for millions of people. Leaders in business and politics have urged the government to implement emergency financial measures before the fall in recent days.

Prior to the Ofgem price cap announcement scheduled for August 26 and in order to reach an agreement on how to deal with rising fuel prices, the CBI has urged Johnson to bring together both Truss and Sunak. Further, in a rare weekend intervention, former UK PM Gordon Brown urged Truss, Johnson, and Sunak to meet and agree on an emergency budget this week, arguing in the Observer newspaper that upcoming energy price increases would be a "financial time-bomb" for families in October.

Downing Street has countered that any "major fiscal interventions" should wait until the upcoming weeks under the leadership of a new prime minister. In a statement on August 9, Johnson expressed his "absolute confidence" that his successor would have the "fiscal firepower and the headroom" to help the public get through the current cost of living crisis.

(Image: AP)