Liz Truss’s only defence against the Opposition’s criticism last Wednesday has just been dismantled by her own chancellor.
The prime minister, facing backlash from all sides, fired Kwasi Kwarteng and appointed Jeremy Hunt in his place last Friday. In his first 72 hours, the new chancellor ripped Truss’s Growth Plan completely apart – including her energy bill promises.
While Truss and Kwarteng had planned to prevent the typical household paying more than £2,500 every year for energy, Hunt has cut this back to just six months, meaning the help will end in April.
But this two-year promise was the main card the prime minister had left to play during her short press conference last Friday, in the face of economic turmoil.
Amid fierce criticism from the Opposition, Truss tried to redirect PMQs last week (only her second from her entire premiership) by pointing out: “We have taken decisive action to make sure that people are not facing energy bills of £6,000 for two years.
“We remember that the Opposition are only talking about six months.
“The fact is that all the Opposition have said is that people should be supported for six months. Does he [Keir Starmer] think that, in March, pensioners should be facing very high energy bills? That is what will happen if he does not support our energy price guarantee.”
Then, Hunt clarified during his emergency statement on Monday: “Beyond [April], the prime minister and I have agreed it would not be responsible to continue exposing public finances to unlimited volatility in international gas prices.”
This effectively makes the government’s current policy the same as the one put forward by Labour.
And Hunt’s decision to row back on one of Truss’s only remaining policies did not go unnoticed on Twitter, with ITV’s Robert Peston calling it “one of the many jaw-dropping events” from today.
Alex Nunns, the speechwriter for previous Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also called it “politically brutal”.
And now some people are wondering what will happen with this week’s PMQs, especially amid speculation that Hunt now wields more authority than Truss.