Number 10: Johnson will not outline a cost of living package this summer
Number 10 has confirmed that Boris Johnson will not be announcing an emergency package of measures to help Brits being squeezed by the worsening cost of living crisis.
Johnson’s official spokesman today said “it will be for a future Prime Minister to decide whether … measures are required”.
It comes after former Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday called for Johnson and chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to immediately recall parliament to outline an emergency Budget in order to disarm a “financial timebomb” coming in October.
The Bank of England warned on Thursday that inflation will hit 13 per cent and that the country will likely fall into recession.
There are also fresh warnings that the UK’s energy price cap will be increased to more than £4,000 by January, after it was £1,277 last October.
Brown said that inaction by the government would be akin to “condemning millions of vulnerable and blameless children and pensioners to a winter of dire poverty”.
Johnson’s spokesman said: “It is not for the Prime Minister to make major fiscal announcements during this period – it is for the future Prime Minister.”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said an “economic crisis like this requires strong leadership and urgent action”, but that “instead we have a Tory party that’s lost control and are stuck with two continuity candidates who can only offer more of the same”.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak outlined plans to ease financial pressures for households over the weekend, with both pledging tens of billions of pounds of support.
Truss has said she would cut taxes in order to put more money into people’s pockets, while Sunak has said he would hand out more emergency payments to help people pay their bills.