The present amount of assistance for suffering families amid the cost of living crisis, according to Boris Johnson, is insufficient.
However, the Prime Minister vowed that his successor will offer “additional cash.”
The average household’s annual energy costs are expected to soar to eye-watering £5,000 in April.
It has increased pressure on the government to take more steps to make it easier for struggling Britons to pay to heat their homes.
Mr. Johnson has come under fire for holding off on making any immediate announcements while the election to choose his successor is still going on.
Downing Street has claimed that the leaving PM is unable to make “major” financial choices because of his current caretaker position.
Meanwhile, the conflict over how each contender would handle the escalating crisis has become more and more acrimonious in the race for the Tory leadership between Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Whoever replaces him, Mr. Johnson said today, additional assistance for families will be provided.
When asked whether he thought the government’s current assistance programme was sufficient, he said, “No, because what I’m saying is what we’re doing in addition is trying to make sure that there is extra help by October, by January.”
And the government will ensure that there is additional funding available to assist people, regardless of the prime minister.
“I believe it is important to realise that, first of all, we have known for a long time that things would be difficult, which is why we have already put in place a number of measures.
“The funding has begun to flow.” People need to recognise that the majority of people have not yet gotten the aid that the government has previously given, in my opinion.
The energy assistance plan will benefit everyone in October, so over the course of the next several months you will see roughly eight million homes get an additional £326.
The PM made it seem as if they wouldn’t be collaborating on new solutions to the cost-of-living pinch.
But he promised that more assistance will be provided in the next year.
The prime minister continued to tell reporters while on a tour to north Wales that “we’re going to bring down the price of energy by investing in British supplies in renewables, in nuclear, and all the other.”
I’m not going to claim that everyone has it easy right now. You have a point in pressing me since we are exerting every effort.
However, additional funds are on their way as a consequence of the choices made, and they will arrive in October and in the New Year.
Mr. Sunak said his calls and texts to Mr. Johnson since his resignation as chancellor last month at a Tory hustings event yesterday night went unanswered.
But when asked today whether he would cease ignoring the Tory leadership hopeful, the PM sidestepped the issue.
Mr. Johnson said, “That’s one of those Westminster issues that doesn’t impact the price of fish.”
There are several factors, not the least of which being the cost of electricity, but that is not one of them.
The price ceiling on energy bills, according to a new projection from independent energy consultant Auxilione, may rise to £3,628 in October from its current level of £1,971 by then.
Then, they continued, it may increase once more to £4,538 in January and reach a maximum of £5,277 in April.
The PM, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng met with energy company executives yesterday, yet no statement about concrete steps to address skyrocketing prices came from their discussions.
However, Mr. Zahawi, who supports Ms. Truss for the Tory leadership, demanded today that the incoming PM ‘strike the ground running’ to aid struggling families.
His message to families today is that we will have those alternatives available, he told Sky News.
“Yesterday I met with the business community to discuss how we can work together to address direct debit, pre-payment metres, and other issues that families are concerned about.
“We’re making sure we’re working so the incoming prime minister can hit the ground running and have those things in place on September 5th,” the organisation said.
In addition to cutting the VAT on energy bills and increasing payments to seniors and others on benefits, Mr. Sunak has pledged to spend billions of pounds more on further help for families.
Ms. Truss, in contrast, has opted to prioritise tax cuts, such as reversing the National Insurance increase and reducing green levies on energy bills, as her top priority.
She has previously refrained from offering further “handouts” for households.
The Foreign Secretary, however, seemed to shift gears this week and stressed that she was not ruling out further direct payments to homes even though she had previously said that she would not prepare an emergency budget before taking office as Prime Minister.
Mr. Sunak issued a warning yesterday night, stating that millions of people will soon be at danger of “actual poverty” due to Ms. Truss’s opposition to providing direct assistance to families.