In an interview with the Observer, Richard Walker, chief executive of the frozen food retailer in Iceland, said he had contacted Downing Street out of concern that the “half-baked response” touted by Boris Johnson’s potential successors would fail to cope with the scale. people’s needs. Walker warned that a plan put forward by Tory leadership star Liz Truss to cut business rates for small and medium-sized companies would not be up to the scale of the challenge. “This is absolutely urgent,” Walker said. “I will be happy to share our data and findings [the business department] and with the Ministry of Finance. Let’s get a plan ready for whoever the next prime minister is, because it’s really urgent. Where markets are completely disrupted, as is the case with energy markets, it is time for government to step in, otherwise for what purpose? “My fear is that they will have a half-answer. I read that Liz Truss is considering further small business rate relief. It’s great, but it doesn’t even touch the sides. What they need to understand is [this affects] big business as well as small, because it’s exactly the same problem we’re facing – it’s just more jobs at stake.” It comes amid warnings that, by April, the proportion of people spending more than a fifth of their net income on energy will rise from 32% to 45.9%. Researchers at the University of York say 91% of retired couples and 90% of couples with three children will spend more than 10% of their net income on fuel by then. The estimates take into account the £400 rebate paid to all electricity customers between October and April next year. Truss said she doesn’t believe in “handout giving,” preferring to cut taxes to ease the burden on families. But with growing signs that major interventions will be needed to help households through the winter, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary expected to be Truss’ chancellor, said “help is coming” to tackle the energy crisis. Walker has access to No 10 as a member of its business council. He said Iceland’s stores, which operate at the discount end of the market, were a “barometer of Britain” and already offered interest-free loans to customers. Walker said his father, Malcolm, who founded Iceland in 1970, had told him he had never seen a time when households faced such pressures on the cost of living. “Even dad said he never knew it like that,” she said. “He told me a lot about retail in the 70s with the oil price shock, but that was just one element. If you look at it now, we have commodity prices going up, inflation, labor shortages. We have tariff issues, we have energy bills. It’s everything at once.” He called for an energy cap for all businesses, massive long-term reforms to the energy market and immediate help for vulnerable households. “The consumer price cap is not working. Those who really need it most – some of our customers who have £25 a week to spend on food – will need immediate financial support. This is obvious. “But the way for governments to support consumers is also to support businesses, because if they don’t, it will lead to job losses and further inflation. We have suppliers now coming to us and saying, “This is not a deal. You have to accept this price increase or I’ll just have to close my business.” It comes amid suggestions that Nadhim Zahawi, the current chancellor, has lined up options for whoever is announced as the new Tory leader and prime minister this week. Many Tories expect a “big bazooka” to be aimed at the energy crisis, despite the Truce’s reluctance to commit to concrete measures so far. With warnings about the extent of the crisis growing as autumn approaches, Zahawi said last week that failure to intervene in the crisis could push many companies over the edge and lead to financial “scars” with long-term consequences. He also insisted that Truss would “offer help” if elected, as expected. Whether Truss or Rishi Sunak wins the Tory leadership, the next prime minister will be under immediate pressure from opposition parties to announce radical proposals, with Commons votes to block higher energy bills already planned. “The country is facing a social disaster the likes of which we have not seen for decades,” said Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey. “The lack of action by the Conservative government in the face of this impending disaster is simply unconscionable. “The Lib Dems have drawn up a bill to freeze energy bills, which could be tabled as soon as the new prime minister takes office. Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak must make the first move to cancel this spectacular energy price rise, to save millions of families from being plunged into poverty this winter.”
