Inside Politics: Inertia

Former PM Gordon Brown calls on Tory leadership rivals to take radical action to tackle energy crisis after Boris Johnson confirms he won’t make any fiscal decisions before leaving No 10, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

Hello there, I’m Matt Mathers and welcome to The Independent’s Inside Politics newsletter.

Ministers are under sustained high pressure to intervene on energy bills as an amber warning for extreme heat comes into force across much of England today. Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has hinted she may offer more help, while rival Rishi Sunak says his package will cost a few billion.

Inside the bubble

Parliament is not sitting.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed is on Sky News Breakfast at 8.05am.

Former Tory leader and Truss support Ian Duncan Smith on LBC at 8.50am.

Daily briefing

Interventions

The Liz Truss merry-go-round on whether she will – or won’t – do more to help people with their energy bills continues as the cost of living crisis dominates the Tory Party leadership contest and wider political agenda. After apparently ruling out more “handouts”, the foreign secretary’s tone changed slightly yesterday, saying she would “everything I can” to support working families.

Is she taking a deliberately ambiguous position, talking tough on “handouts” to ensure she gets past the Tory membership, before submitting to the seemingly inevitable and announcing a package of financial assistance once she wins the keys to No 10?

What we do know for certain is that the warnings from charities and other groups and experts about the scale of the challenge facing millions this winter are growing louder with each passing day. And with Boris Johnson confirming that he won’t make any fiscal decisions before leaving Downing Street on 5 September, Truss will soon be forced to make a decision one way or the other.

Ministers will later today, following criticism of government inaction, meet with energy bosses to discuss ways of bringing down prices for consumers. Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary and Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, are scheduled to meet with suppliers but it is not clear what will come of the summit due to the inertia in No 10.

That power vacuum at the top of government has prompted another intervention by Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister and chancellor, widely regarded as having successfully steered the ship of state through the choppy waters of the 2009 financial crisis.

In an op-ed for The Guardian, Brown writes that the government should scrap the energy price cap, lower prices and make the windfall tax “watertight”. Labour is also calling on the government to close what it describes as a “loophole” in the windfall tax which is handing them “billions” in tax breaks. Companies that do not bring down bills for consumers, Brown adds, should be temporarily nationalised as a last resort.

Sunak, grilled by Nick Robinson on the BBC last night and Truss, who took part in a People’s Forum on GB News, are out on the campaign trail again today and head to Cheltenham later for hustings number six.

(PA)

More delay

Another day, another government delay – this time on controversial plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria. A decision on whether or not to press ahead with the site in Whitehaven has once again been kicked into the long grass.

Officials at the Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Local Government say they are not yet in a position to “complete their consideration before providing advice to ministers” due to major climate concerns. Ministers have now said they will make a decision by 8 November instead – when a new prime minister will be in place. The Planning Inspectorate’s report has been with the government since April and a decision was due in August.

The proposed £165m facility, which would be the first new coal mine opened in the UK in 30 years, has been at the centre of debate since plans for it were first unveiled in 2018.

Supporters, which initially included the local county council, say it would bring vast employment and infrastructure opportunities in one of the country’s poorest regions. But opponents have called the idea an environmental catastrophe. It would, said Lord Deben, chair of the climate change committee, be an act that was “absolutely indefensible”.

Today’s cartoon

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(Dave Brown)

On the record

Gordon Brown says energy firms could be brought into the public sector as a last resort.

“And if the companies cannot meet these new requirements, we should consider all the options we used with the banks in 2009: guaranteed loans, equity financing and, if this fails, as a last resort, operate their essential services from the public sector until the crisis is over.”

From the Twitterati

New Statesman senior editor George Eaton says Brown’s proposals don’t go far enough.

“Gordon Brown’s call for the temporary renationalisation of energy firms isn’t radical enough. The case for public ownership is getting stronger by the day.”

Essential reading

• John Rentoul, The Independent: Liz Truss is a Boris Johnson tribute act – all bluster and deflection
• Hannah Fearn, The Independent: Having a ‘growth mindset’ won’t save you from the cost of living crisis
• Gordon Brown, The Guardian: We must tax profits now, freeze energy prices – and if necessary bring suppliers into the public sector
• Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: The other Ukrainian army

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