The measures are the priority for Truss, who was appointed by Queen Elizabeth to the monarch’s Balmoral estate in Scotland on Tuesday after beating her rival Rishi Sunak for the Conservative leadership. Under plans being drawn up by the Treasury, the UK government would subsidize the wholesale cost of natural gas, allowing suppliers to cap the price of energy to households and businesses, leaving taxpayers exposed to any further bursts in energy markets. Truss’s team said the package would provide protection against the biggest energy shock in decades, preventing massive corporate crashes and keeping millions of households out of fuel poverty. It is unclear whether the caps for households and businesses will be set at the same level. A senior official confirmed that Truss’ team is drawing up the plans ahead of a possible announcement on Thursday: “There will be a cap, freeze or guarantee on the wholesale gas market,” he said. She will address the nation as prime minister for the first time in a speech from Downing Street at around 4pm, after which she will begin naming her cabinet. The bailout will be a huge challenge to Britain’s tight public finances, as Truss has also promised tens of billions of pounds in tax cuts. It will be paid back either through consumer bills or through taxation in the long run. The relief package was discussed on Monday night by energy officials and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is expected to be the next business secretary. Capping natural gas prices would lower wholesale electricity prices. Around 40 per cent of Britain’s electricity is generated by gas-fired power stations, which tend to set wholesale prices for the rest of the market, even though other technologies such as wind produce power more cheaply. In the longer term, the new Truss government wants to fully decouple electricity prices from natural gas, a policy also followed by the EU. Brussels is also recommending that EU member states take emergency measures to curb wholesale gas prices. Boris Johnson’s family, political colleagues, staff and supporters applaud during his speech on Tuesday © Neil Hall/EPA/Shutterstock Ahead of the transition of power, outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a defiant speech outside Downing Street, rattling off a list of his government’s achievements. But he pledged to give his wholehearted support to the new Truss administration. “I’m like one of those booster rockets that has done its job and will gently re-enter the atmosphere and launch itself invisibly into some remote, dark corner of the Pacific,” he said. “Like Cincinnatus, I return to my plough, and will offer this government nothing but the most earnest support.” Some historians believe that Cincinnatus – despite the famous plow quote – later returned as ruler, a fact that classics graduate Johnson would have known. Liz Truss will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. What can we expect from her? @gideonrachman, @greenmiranda @stephenkb and @mfilippino will be answering your questions on our Twitter space today at 2pm. BST. To submit questions, please reply below https://t.co/ojHqw0wmdA — Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) September 6, 2022 Johnson did not dwell on the host of complex dilemmas facing his successor, which range from soaring inflation and an expected recession to a wave of strikes. Instead, he chose to focus on the positives, saying private sector investment was “flooding” and unemployment was at its lowest level in half a century. “We got this economy moving again, despite the opposition and the naysayers.”

He said he had left the economy strong enough to allow the new government to give people “the cash they need” to overcome the energy crisis. “If Putin thinks he can succeed by intimidating or blackmailing the British people, he is completely delusional,” Johnson added. He said his government had “completed Brexit”, carried out Europe’s fastest-ever Covid-19 vaccine launch, started work on high-speed rail and delivered early arms supplies to the Ukrainian government soon after the Russian invasion. “This may have changed the course of Europe’s biggest war in decades,” he said. Johnson could not resist a final dig at the Tory MPs who dumped him in July, despite winning a confidence vote earlier this year. “The baton will be passed in what unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race. . . they changed the rules halfway through, but that’s okay now.”