The Conservative Party’s Liz Truss will become the new prime minister of the UK after defeating Rishi Sunak for the Tory leadership, promising urgent plans to deal with the country’s energy crisis after campaigning on a flurry of oil drilling in the North Sea.
Truss, who has served as foreign minister for the past 12 months, will now be formally appointed as the next prime minister by Queen Elizabeth, likely on Tuesday afternoon. Truss is set to become the country's fourth leader, following Boris Johnson, in a politically turbulent six-year period and only the third time in history that a woman will assume power in 10 Downing Street.
Truss has pledged to work on the country’s energy crisis urgently and had earlier vowed to authorize some 130 new oil and gas drilling licenses for the North Sea.
According to reports in The Times and The Daily Telegraph, Truss’ strategy to ease the impact of rising energy costs is likely to include freezing of energy bills.
In her victory speech, Truss declared that she has a “bold plan”to grow the UK economy and cut taxes while also promising to “deliver” when it comes to the energy crisis by not only dealing with bills but also addressing the long-term supply issues.
On Sunday, Truss announced that she would reveal her strategy to support households struggling to pay energy bills within a week, though she has so far declined to spell out what those support measures might look like.
“Before you have been elected as prime minister, you don’t have all the wherewithal to get the things done. This is why it will take a week to sort out the precise plans and make sure we are able to announce them. That is why I cannot go into details at this stage. It would be wrong,”she told the BBC.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
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Perhaps the solution is to allow those who want to, to use 'free' energy (solar, wind, & battery storage) when it is available and to use NO energy when the 'free' energy is unavailable. They would also have to pay for all associated investment costs.
And then an infrastructure for others who want a steady, reliable source of fossil fuel and are willing to pay the price for the fuel, carbon and investment costs of its production.