Politics

Liz Truss has said she is ready to take “tough decisions” and “immediate action” on energy bills during her first week in office, if she becomes prime minister. There have been ever-louder calls in recent weeks for the government to intervene to support the most vulnerable, with energy bills set to rise to around £3,500

Voting in the Conservative leadership contest has ended, with the party’s next leader to be announced on Monday. After a long and bitter summer of campaigning, there is nothing more Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak can do to try and win the keys to Number 10. The winner of the race, and subsequently the next

Whether it is Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak who becomes Conservative leader on Monday, they will be the third in six years to become UK prime minister by the grace and favour of the Tory party membership and without the other 99% of the electorate giving their endorsement at a general election. Liz Truss, and

Extinction Rebellion protesters have superglued themselves to the Speaker’s chair in the House of Commons and padlocked their necks to the railings outside. The campaign group said around 50 of its supporters “took non-violent action” demanding a citizens’ assembly to discuss the climate crisis. Five protesters were pictured in the Commons chamber, with some holding

Boris Johnson and his allies have launched a legal fightback against a Commons inquiry into claims he lied to parliament about partygate. The government has commissioned legal advice from a top QC, Lord Pannick, which the PM’s supporters claim undermines the legitimacy of the inquiry. Lord Pannick is a crossbench peer who has previously acted

Boris Johnson has given the green light to the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, promising £700m of government funding for the project. He confirmed the move during a speech from the site in one of his final acts as prime minister – and amid the rising cost of living crisis – saying he

Liz Truss has pledged that there would be no energy rationing if she were to become prime minister next week – while rival Rishi Sunak warned “we shouldn’t rule anything out”. Speaking at the 12th and final leadership hustings at Wembley Arena in London, the frontrunner of the contest also promised no new taxes and

After Tory MPs sprinted through five rounds of voting for a new party leader in just a week, the battle for the votes of party members has already been a six-week marathon. For Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak it’s almost the end of the road as they prepare for the 12th and final Conservative Party

Boris Johnson will join new police officers on the frontline tomorrow as he marks his final few days as prime minister. The victor of the Conservative leadership contest and Mr Johnson’s successor – either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak – will be announced on 5 September. With less than a week to go in the

Liz Truss has cancelled a scheduled interview on the BBC with just a week to go before the next Conservative Party leader is announced. A BBC spokesperson said: “Liz Truss has cancelled her BBC One interview with Nick Robinson which was due to air this Tuesday evening (30 August) at 7pm. “Ms Truss’s team say

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi will travel to the United States this week to meet top bankers and US government officials to try and seek joint solutions to the cost of living crisis. Mr Zahawi is expected to push for co-operation on energy security, financial services and tackling spiralling prices as the government faces growing pressure to

Boris Johnson could attempt to make a political comeback like “Berlusconi or Trump”, according to a former Tory minister. Rory Stewart, an ex-Conservative MP who ran for the leadership in 2019, accused the outgoing prime minister of having “an extraordinary ego” and believing he was “badly treated” when ousted from Downing Street. He told the

People relying on the state pension could be left with less than £11 a day to live on from next April because of the soaring cost of energy, according to Sky News analysis. A leading charity working with older people said it is “seriously worried” and called on the government to step in urgently. According

Unions are threatening to hold co-ordinated strikes in the coming months as they attempt to secure inflation-matching pay rises for workers struggling with the cost of living crisis. According to the Observer, a series of motions will be tabled at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in September, calling for unions to work together to increase

The government’s new plan to crack down on sewage discharge by 2050 has been branded a “cruel joke” and “licence to pump sewage on to our beaches”. The Department for the Environment (DEFRA) said on Friday that water companies will have to deliver £56bn of capital investment over the next 25 years to stop untreated

Pressure is mounting on the government to put forward detailed proposals to curb rocketing gas and electricity prices after energy regulator Ofgem announced the price cap for an average household will rise to £3,549 a year in October. The figure is £800 more than the forecast figure that was provided to Rishi Sunak in May

Boris Johnson has pledged the government will announce “extra cash” in September to support households further with energy bills – after Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi suggested people should cut back on their usage. The outgoing PM said: “There’s a pipeline of cash coming through over the next few months and through the autumn and the winter.

Liz Truss has said she will use an emergency budget to “ensure support is on its way” amid soaring energy bills if she becomes prime minister – despite repeatedly saying she favours tax cuts over handouts. The foreign secretary made the comments, which could be interpreted as going against much of what she has previously

Rishi Sunak has said it was “wrong to empower scientists” during the pandemic and claimed lockdown “trade-offs” were never properly discussed. In an interview for The Spectator on the “inside story of lockdown”, the former chancellor attacked the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) for having too much influence over government decision-making during the COVID

Freezing energy bills will not help people who need the most support with the cost of living crisis, according to a government minister. The boss of Scottish Power revealed on Tuesday that he had asked the government to back a £100bn loan scheme to allow energy companies to freeze bills for two years. Keith Anderson