Downing Street Tells Public Not To Panic About Soaring Energy Bills

The Conservatives have been told to end its leadership contest early to allow a new PM to tackle the crisis.
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People should not panic ahead of winter about the soaring cost of energy, Downing Street has said.

Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said on Monday the amount of energy to use was “for individuals”.

“Households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas that they need over the winter,” the spokesperson said.

Asked if people should “panic” over the cost of living during the winter, the spokesperson said: “No.”

But Labour leader Keir Starmer has attacked the outgoing prime minister for presiding over a “zombie government” that is doing nothing to help with the cost of living.

Starmer has unveiled a “fully costed” £29bn plan to freeze the energy cap at the current level of £1,971 for six months from October.

It comes as the boss of an energy company demanded the Conservative Party end its leadership contest early so the new PM could tackle the crisis.

Bill Bullen, chief executive of Utilita, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that customers were already in “distress”.

“You’ve got to take this decision to freeze prices at their current level right now,” he said.

“This cannot wait until the 5th or 6th of September. The Conservative Party needs to sort themselves out, decide who the leader is going to be this week, so that the Ofgem announcement on the 26th doesn’t have to happen. That is such an imperative.

“Then at least we will take away the stress of this winter coming up for tens of millions of households.”

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