Cost of living – live: ‘Absolutely right’ not to act on bills crisis, minister insists

It is “absolutely right” that ministers should not be acting on the cost of living crisis until a new prime minister is elected, the chief secretary to the Treasury has said.

In a thread posted to Twitter on supporting people through the bills crisis, Simon Clarke said that the government was working up a package of support to be put to the next PM when they assume office.

The senior minister, who is backing Liz Truss in the Conservative leadership contest, went on to insist that the government inaction was preferable to announcing “new un-costed policies, without sight of all the details of the pressures people could face, during a leadership election.”

Nicola Sturgeon has said Liz Truss “looked a little bit as if she’d swallowed a wasp” after the first minister told her she had been in Vogue twice.

Ms Sturgeon said the Foreign Secretary asked her about how to get into the magazine when they briefly met last year.

Earlier in the Tory leadership race, Ms Truss dismissed Ms Sturgeon as an “attention seeker”.

Ms Sturgeon was interviewed by LBC’s Iain Dale at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre during the city’s Fringe festival, during which she added: “I’m sure she’ll be in Vogue before too long.”

Ministers are working up a fresh package of cost-of-living support for the next prime minister to consider when they take office, the chief secretary to the Treasury has said.

Simon Clarke argued it is “absolutely right” for the new leader to consider “these options in the round” when they take the reins, suggesting they should steer clear of announcing “new uncosted policies” during the election period.

Liz Truss today summoned China’s ambassador to the UK over Beijing’s “aggressive and wide-ranging escalation” against Taiwan of late.

The foreign secretary said in a statement that she had ordered officials to call in ambassador Zheng Zeguang to explain his China’s actions after US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-governing island.

China responded to the visit – which it saw as a provocation by the US – with a series of missile launches and incursions into Taiwanese waters and air space by its military.

Beijing reiterated on Wednesday that it was not prepared to renounce the the use of force to take control of Taiwan, which it has long claimed.

Rishi Sunak has admitted that someone has had to teach him how to use a contactless card machine after he was pictured struggling with one during a photo-op.

The 42-year-old former chancellor was got into difficulty paying for petrol in March this year, apparently unfamiliar with the everyday technology.

The episode raised questions about whether the man in charge of the country’s finances and one of the country’s richest MPs ever did his own shopping.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more:

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi acknowledged the UK Government is making “all sorts of contingency plans” when challenged over the risk of blackouts this winter.

Mr Zahawi also raise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying of Russian president Vladimir Putin: “He is playing with energy prices deliberately. We have to be able to withstand that sort of pressure. Why? Because we cannot allow him to win this war – it’ll be much worse if we were to buckle and allow him to win this war.

“Hence why we have to make all sorts of contingency plans, hence why we have to be focused on operationalising what we’ve just talked about – getting that £400 of help into people’s pockets, making sure we deliver that whole £37 billion – and see what more we would need to do later on in the winter and give whoever becomes prime minister the options that we can make available.”

Mr Zahawi described the UK economy as robust, adding: “We have got that headroom that I hope to be able to demonstrate to whoever becomes prime minister that they have choices to be able to make to deliver additional help.”

Energy company bosses will be “hauled in” by the government to explain “unprecedented” profits at a time when consumers face a devastating increase in bills, a minister has said.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, are expected to hold talks with the sector on Thursday amid mounting calls for government action.

James Cleverly, the education secretary, said on Sky News the two cabinet minister will discuss with energy firms “what they are going to do with these unexpected, unplanned, unprecedented profits that they have been making because of that sudden spike in energy prices”.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports:

Greg Jackson, founder of energy company Octopus Energy, said previous government assistance is “not sufficient” and that the “crisis has deepened”.

He also called for energy companies and the government to work together to solve the crisis.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said the cost of buying energy for his company to supply to customers has increased from around £0.5 billion to £9 billion, adding: “And, you know, there is no company that can tackle this problem alone or indeed working just with other companies. It needs companies and governments to work together. And, you know, we’ve been working with government for a year.

“I think, as I said, the last support package was really significant. It’s just that the crisis has deepened since then, and that’s why it needs revisiting.”

He added: “We just know that the level of increases is going to be unmanageable for so many without the right support from the government and it’s beyond what any one company can do.”

A ‘worst case scenario’ in the ongoing energy crisis could lead to blackouts and gas cuts this winter as part of an emergency government plan, according to reports.

An electricity capacity shortfall could result in a sixth of peak demand, even after emergency coal plants are brought into use, Bloomberg News claims. If combined with a reduction in imports and below average temperatures, contingency measures could be triggered by January, it is claimed.

However, the government insists it does not expect this ‘doomsday’ scenario to play out and that homes and businesses “should be confident” there will be enough supply to meet demand.

Zoe Tidman has more: