Next PM will ‘plainly’ have to help people with energy bills, says Johnson

theguardian.com:

Boris Johnson has said the next UK prime minister will “plainly” have to give people extra cash for their energy bills but the wealthiest should not see their bills capped.

Johnson put pressure on his successor, who is likely to be Liz Truss, saying the cash handouts are “clearly going to be augmented, increased, by extra cash that the government is plainly going to be announcing in September”.

But he also said overall energy bills should not be subsidised for everyone, as Ofgem announced an increase in the price cap to more than £3,500.

“What I don’t think what we should be doing is capping things for absolutely everybody, the richest households in the country,” Johnson said.

“This will go on for a few months and it will go on over the winter,” the outgoing prime minister admitted.

“And it will be tough – and I’d be very clear about that – but in the end, we are also putting in the measures we need to ensure that we have the energy independence to get through this.”

His comments came as Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, said Britons should consider cutting down on energy use in light of the huge rise in bills they will face given the new energy price cap.

Zahawi became the first minister to publicly suggest households review how much gas and electricity they use given concerns that the cost of living crisis is expected to deteriorate significantly this winter.

The admission marks a major U-turn from the government’s line only days ago, when a spokesperson for Johnson insisted that questions of energy consumption “remain decisions for individuals”.

Zahawi said on Friday there was “real anxiety among the population” about energy bills but denied that the government was failing to help people.

“We know we need to do more because