First Minister says Boris Johnson needs to stop talking and show action

Boris Johnson needs to “stop talking” and “let us see the action” in dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said it was “not enough” for Mr Johnson to say Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech was about helping people to mitigate rising costs “when there was nothing in the speech that would actually deliver that”.

Ms Sturgeon said yesterday the steps taken so far by the UK Government to assist households “fall way short of what is needed”.

Her comments came as the Prime minister told his cabinet to “go faster” in delivering ideas to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis, but was resisting growing pressure to hold an emergency budget.

Ms sturgeon said :“there is an urgency here. People are struggling right now to feed their children, to heat their homes, and we know it’s going to get worse.”

Mr Johnson has come under fire over a lack of short-term measures in the queen’ s speech to help people facing soaring costs.

In response, he warned the Government can not“completely shield” people from the rising cost of living.

But Ms Sturgeon suggested actions such as removing VAT from energy bills, increasing social security benefits and offering direct support to lowincome households could be taken by the UK Government.

She said: “We’ve seen other governments across Europe take much more action, and of course at the start of the pandemic, we saw a scale of response that was necessary to help people at that point.

“That’s the scale of response that we need to see from Boris Johnson and[ chance ll or]r is hi Sunak now.

“Stop talking about it, stop letting us hear the words about it, and let us see the action.”

Mr Johnson separately urged

Cabinet ministers to be“as creative as possible” as he seeks initiatives to reduce the pain without requiring fresh funding from the Treasury.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove had earlier ruled out an emergency budget, which was receiving support from some Conservative backbenchers as well as Labour.

He insisted that claims of a split between Chancellor Rishi Sun aka nd mr johnson over the need for more financial support were “overinflated”.

For me rb rex it secretary david Davis called for ministers to swallow their pride and initiate tax cuts before the summer at the latest.

The Conservative MP said: “Ideally I want to see a reversal of the national insurance increase and an elimination of VAT on fuel because people are already suffering from a £600£700 increase in fuel costs, they’re already suffering from increasing food costs and other inflation and so, from a point of view of the ordinary family, it’s vital we do something very soon.”

Asked how quickly it should be enacted, he said: “As soon as we can, certainly before the summer.”

“I don’ t care whether you call it an emergency budget–however you do it, the title is irrelevant.

“The am our pro pre[ vanity] of the Government or the ministers is secondary to the people and we should do it now.”

Under fire for failing to use the Queen’s Speech to announce fresh help, Mr Johnson suggested he and the Chancellor would announce more “in the days to come”.

But the Treasury quickly shot down Mr Johnson’s suggestion of further “fiscal firepower”.

Mr go vet old sky news :“there won’t be an emergency budget. It is sometimes the case that the words from a prime minister or minister are overinterpreted.

“The Prime Minister is right. We will be saying more and doing more in order to help people with the cost-of-living challenge we face at the moment, but that doesn’t amount to an emergency budget. It is part of the work of government.

Energy minister Greg Hands meanwhile told Holyrood’s net-zero committee yesterday the UK Government believes a windfall tax on energy companies would kill off investment and cost jobs.

Addressing the committee, one ms pr es ponded to his comments on a windfall tax by saying the cost-of-living crisis was “killing off people”.

Mr Hands said world events had driven up energy prices and the UK Government was not able to completely insulate consumers from this.

He said UK ministers were spending £22 billion this year to help households with the cost of living.

Some of this help – such as the Energy Bills Support Scheme, which will provide a £200 reduction in electricity costs – will not be felt until October, he said.

Mr hands said :“it’ s very much the belief of the Chancellor – matters of taxation are matters for the chancellor–that a wind fall tax would kill off investment.

“For example, in the north sea and particularly from companies that are also using those proceeds to invest increasingly in renewables.

“Oil and gas companies already pay corporation tax at twice the rate of other companies. They’ve paid around £375 billion in taxation to the exchequer since North Sea oil and gas came on stream.

“So we take the view that the windfall tax would be likely to kill off investment and cost jobs, particularly in Scotland.”

Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon responded to him, saying: “Instead of killing off investment, just to quote your words back. What we’re hearing from charities, trade unions in Scotland, local volunteers and food banks is that the cost-of-living crisis is killing off people.”

She asked about the proposed Jackdaw oil field in the North Sea, to which the minister said an independent environmental assessment was being carried out. Increased investment in gas will help with the UK’S security of supply, he said.