“I’m not going to go into detail about what a supposed announcement would be before because I think it would be wrong to do so,” he said. He added: “I don’t think we should be predicting a kind of Armageddon scenario. I think we are in a good position to face the very difficult challenges.” Scottish Power has proposed a £100bn plan for a two-year freeze on energy bills, funded by loans underwritten by the Treasury. The proposal is supported by other energy companies. An energy company source said the idea had been “extremely actively looked at” by Truss’s campaign figures and that Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Minister tipped to become chancellor if Mrs Truss wins, seemed “very open” to options for freeze. A second industry source confirmed the proposal was being scrutinized by the Truss campaign. Members of the Truss team told The Telegraph as much. One said: “I’m sure a mechanism will be introduced to freeze accounts.” Another said the idea had been discussed “quite a bit in the last fortnight”. The specifics of such a freeze on energy bills – exactly who would benefit, for how long, at what price level and the extent to which the taxpayer would cover the cost – remains a point of debate, according to sources. A spokesman for the Truss campaign declined to comment. During the leadership contest, Ms Truss faced criticism from the Sunak campaign for saying in a newspaper interview that she would prefer not to hand out “handouts” as a solution to the cost of living crisis. She has rejected calls for details of the financial help she would give people, pointing instead to her promises of wider tax cuts. But there is speculation that her yet-to-be-finalised energy support package, combined with her promised tax cuts, could end up costing as much as licences, the £70bn government scheme that paid the wages of millions in the private sector. workers during the pandemic.
