PM backtracks on promise of help for cost of living crisis

BORIS JOHNSON yesterday downgraded his suggestion that cost of living help will come in “days”, saying instead action could be expected in “months”.

The Prime Minister has ordered his government ministers to speed up their search for measures to help households with soaring prices which do not cost the Treasury.

Some Tory MPS are privately predicting that the Prime Minister will have to announce new support before the summer, with many pushing for tax cuts.

Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, yesterday publicly ruled out an “emergency budget” in a stance backed up by No 10 and the Treasury.

But there is speculation in Whitehall that some form of tax cut could be announced before the autumn Budget.

Last year, Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, revealed they were raising National Insurance in September, ahead of the budget in October.

There had been initial plans to announce the move before the summer parliamentary recess, but that was quashed when the Prime Minister had to self-isolate because of Covid rules.

Yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “We will have the maximum energy, effort, ingenuity, to help the British people through them and everybody knows how tough it can be right now... There will be more support in the months ahead as things continue to be tough with the increase in the energy prices.”

The phrase “months” was note-worthy, as the day before Mr Johnson had indicated in the Commons that new announcements were imminent. He had told MPS on Tuesday, in reference to the cost of living crunch: “The Chancellor and I will be saying more about this in the days to come.”

Separately, the Prime Minister has said Matt Warman, the Tory MP and former technology editor at The Daily Telegraph, will head up a new review into the future of work. It will address how changing technology impacts workers’ rights, the locations where work takes place and the skills needed for jobs.

Mr Warman told The Telegraph: “Businesses big and small have evolved how they work hugely in the last two years, and employees today need different skills and protections to thrive.

“Getting that balance right will provide tangible economic and social benefits to both companies and working people.”