Energy has to be top priority for next PM

IN ten days’ time, Britain will have a new prime minister. To a public sick of the vain posturing of the political class, that moment can’t come too soon.

For it will mark the end of what has been a tortuous and needlessly vituperative Tory leadership contest, which feels like it has dragged on since Methuselah was a boy.

True, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have used the campaign to spell out their respective visions of how to revitalise the country.

But it has seemed like the rival camps have spent more time throwing rocks at each other than explaining exactly how they’d solve the manifold problems coming down the track.

The internecine warfare has given the dangerous impression that there is a vacuum of political leadership at the heart of government.

With the nation facing mountainous difficulties, a sense of drift is the last thing voters expect – or deserve.

Let’s be frank. Whoever wins the Conservative crown, and thus becomes Britain’s 56th PM, will be accepting something of a poisoned chalice.

With Mr Sunak 30-plus points adrift in polls of Tory members, Miss Truss seems destined for No10.

The most pressing challenge the next incumbent faces is the catastrophic cost of living crisis.

Yesterday, Ofgem announced that the price cap for gas and electricity would rise to a punishing £3,549 for a typical household in October – up 80 per cent.

Millions will simply be unable to pay their bills, with many others facing the appalling choice of turning off the heating, skimping on meals or racking up debts.

And how much higher could prices go? With analysts warning the cap could hit a terrifying £7,000 a year – a quarter of the average income – there seems no end in sight to the nightmare.

Even though this paper is clear that government spending is not a magic wand, ministers must do all they can to support the hard-pressed through the crisis, even if it adds to the national debt.

Of course, the reasons for the unprecedented price spike are no secret. A surge in global energy demand after the Covid lockdown ended and Vladimir Putin weaponising Russia’s gas resources.

But would we be in such a bind if British energy policy over the last two decades hadn’t been so grossly reckless?

By pursuing carbon ‘net zero’ at insane speed to placate the unappeasable green lobby, our scientifically illiterate politicians failed to safeguard our energy security.

To extricate ourselves from this mess, the next PM must remove all obstructions to oil and gas drilling, fracking and nuclear power.

The grim alternative is staying firmly on a path to poverty.