Liz Truss has said she will ask European leaders to help “keep the lights on” this winter amid growing fears of energy shortages and the need for rationing.
The prime minister is attending a European Political Community summit in Prague today Thursday, with French president Emmanuel Macron among those she is expected to meet.
The UK government has insisted there will be no need for energy rationing, but official modelling is understood to have warned of shortages for Britons under a “reasonable” worst-case scenario.
Ms Truss will ask leaders of EU nations – some of whom have asked citizens to cut energy consumption – to keep open gas and electricity interconnectors which allow supply to flow between Britain and the European mainland.
“The UK sends and receives both gas and electricity through the undersea cables and pipelines that link us with neighbours like France, Belgium and the Netherlands,” the prime minister wrote in The Times.
Ms Truss added: “Today we must all commit to keeping those connections open this winter so we keep the lights on across the continent.”
Earlier this week Ofgem warned that the UK is facing a “significant risk” of gas shortages this winter. “There is a possibility that Great Britain could enter into a gas supply emergency,” said the energy regulator in a letter.
It could mean that some customers, starting with the largest industrial consumers, will be asked to stop using gas for temporary periods. It comes as Britons struggle with soaring energy bills, despite Ms Truss’s cap on the price per unit.
Downing Street has been reluctant to launch a campaign encouraging the public to ration gas and electricity use, but officials have reportedly held talks with energy firms and National Grid about a non-governmental campaign.
Eyebrows were raised when Ms Truss said she would attend the meeting of the new European Political Community – the brainchild of Mr Marcon – having been sceptical about the idea over the summer amid post-Brexit tensions with France.
But she is keen to encourage countries to go further to end reliance on Russian energy, and will meet Mr Macron and the Netherlands’ PM Mark Rutte in a bid to secure progress on joint operations to disrupt criminal gangs profiting from illegal migration.
Ms Truss is in the Czech Republic after a difficult Tory conference dominated by internal division and backbench opposition to some of her key policies.
Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, a backer of Ms Truss during the leadership race, warned that the party faces an electoral “wipeout” unless the PM changes course. “You don’t win elections by lurching to the right,” she said.
