The Tory leadership favorite is under intense pressure to end her silence on the support she will provide for emergency living costs, but revealed options were still on the table. They include cutting VAT by 5% and reversing a decision to freeze income tax thresholds until 2026, which would lure millions more people into paying higher taxes. The Truss camp did not dispute a BBC report that she had “cut off” aid for every Briton, regardless of wealth, the policy favored by her rival Rishi Sunak. Despite the foreign secretary set to become prime minister in just nine days, “no decisions have been made” on other options that remain on the table. Ms Truss could choose to simply give more support to the poorest, through higher benefits, or exclude the wealthiest from general assistance, as a key ally has previously hinted. The Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, a Truss supporter, has warned that even those earning £45,000 – 50 per cent more than the average wage – will need significant help within weeks. Jake Berry, chairman of Tory MPs’ Northern Inquiry Group, which also backs Ms Truss, said the next prime minister would have to “find solutions quickly”. “This is perhaps the biggest crisis of my political career. And nothing in terms of the government supporting families in this country and businesses should be off the table,” he told Times Radio. Mrs Truss said only that she would reverse the rise in national insurance – a policy that would overwhelmingly favor the wealthy – and scrap green levies on energy bills. This would shave around £150 from annual household bills, just a fraction of the looming rise to £3,549 on average from October and a projected £5,300 from January. A contingency budget is planned for later in September, which will be renamed a “fiscal event” to avoid scrutiny by the Treasury watchdog. Mr Sunak’s team dismissed the all-VAT cut as “incredibly regressive” and warned it would cost more than £30bn a year on top of Mrs Truss’ existing £30bn of unfunded tax cuts. A source in his campaign team told the BBC: “It also means that the worst hit this winter are working families and middle-income pensioners, who are Conservative and swing voters. Truss’ plan is a gift to Labour.” The race favorite has already rejected Labour’s £29bn plan to freeze energy bills, which would be partly funded by a bigger windfall tax on the excess profits of energy giants. But Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are looking at energy bills of hundreds of pounds a month for households across the country. “The conversation that’s happening, of course, is ‘how can we afford it?’ what else can we cut?” And for some people it will simply be impossible.”
