New UK Prime Minister Liz Truss inherits an economy set to enter recession before the end of the year, with double-digit inflation forecast to soar further, IgbereTV reports
– Cost of living –
With inflation at a 40-year high above 10 percent, fuelled by rocketing energy and food prices, Truss promised during her campaign to cut taxes.
She pledged also to reverse a recent increase in workers’ National Insurance contributions that fund the public health service and welfare payments.
Truss is also proposing to axe taxes on fuel that pay for the transition to cleaner energy but she has rejected “sticking plaster” solutions to the cost-of-living crisis such as direct government aid.
An emergency budget is expected within weeks, as the Bank of England (BoE) predicts that the UK will enter a year-long recession by the end of 2022.
Before then, Truss is expected to present a plan to tackle soaring energy bills.
“If I’m elected prime minister, I will act immediately on bills and on energy supply,” Truss, who steps up from her role as foreign minister, told the BBC on Sunday.
British households are facing an eye-watering 80-percent average hike in electricity and gas bills from next month, in a dramatic worsening of the cost-of-living crisis before winter.
“Some of the promises Liz Truss has scattered on the campaign trail may flutter away once she takes office and the cold reality of the monumental crisis the government faces becomes clear,” noted Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown
