Civil servants accuse Truss government of rushing through £69bn energy support plans without scrutiny

Report reveals accounting officer given ‘ministerial direction’ to push ahead with energy scheme despite objections

Civil servants have warned ministers that they did not have enough time to properly assess some of the energy support packages that will together cost the taxpayer about £69bn, an official report has found.

The programmes were rushed through after ministers had held off announcing extra support because they were waiting for the Conservative leadership election to play out.

It meant that civil servants only had three weeks to put a full plan in place after Liz Truss in September announced the Energy Price Guarantee. The scheme capped bills for households at 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p for gas.