At the top of her inbox is the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to push energy bills to unsustainable levels, shutting down businesses and leaving the country’s poorest people shivering in frozen homes this winter. Truss, who refused to spell out her energy strategy during the two-month campaign to succeed Boris Johnson, now plans to cut energy bills at a cost to taxpayers of up to $116 billion, British media reported on Tuesday. She is expected to unveil her plan on Thursday. “You need to know about the cost of living crisis in England, which is really, really bad at the moment,” said Rebecca McDougall, 55, who works in law enforcement, outside the Houses of Parliament. “He’s making promises about it, like he says he’s going to deliver, deliver, deliver,” he said. “But we will see, hopefully, in the next few weeks there will be some announcements that will help the average worker.” Truss took office on Tuesday afternoon at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when Queen Elizabeth II formally asked her to form a new government in a carefully choreographed ceremony dictated by centuries of tradition. Johnson, who announced his intention to step down two months ago, formally resigned during his own audience with the Queen earlier. It was the first time in the Queen’s 70-year reign that the handover of power took place at Balmoral rather than Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule because the 96-year-old queen has experienced travel problems that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a daily basis. Truss, 47, took office a day after the ruling Conservative Party chose her as its leader in an election where the party’s 172,000 dues-paying members were the only voters. As party leader, Truss automatically became prime minister without the need for a general election because the Conservatives still have a majority in the House of Commons. But as a prime minister elected by less than 0.5% of British adults, Truss is under pressure to show quick results. Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, on Tuesday called for a snap election in October. “I’ve listened to Liz Truss during the Tory leadership (campaign) and I’ve been looking for a plan to help people with skyrocketing energy bills, with the NHS crisis and so on, and I haven’t heard any plan,” he said. the BBC. “Given that people are really worried, given that people are losing sleep over their energy bills, businesses not investing because of the crisis, I think that’s really wrong,” Davey said. Johnson noted the pressures facing Britain as he left the prime minister’s official residence at No. 10 Downing Street for the last time, saying his policies had left the government with the economic power to help people overcome the energy crisis. While many observers expect Johnson to attempt a political comeback, he supported Truss and compared himself to Cincinnati, the Roman dictator who abdicated and returned to his farm to live in peace. “Like Cincinnatus, I return to my plough,” he said. “And I will offer this government nothing but the strongest support.”
Susie Blann contributed to this story.
