Prime minister Liz Truss has said that the short-term pain of higher energy bills is a “price worth paying” to guarantee energy security for the UK in the future. Furthermore, she has suggested a trade deal with the US is unlikely to happen in the “short-to-medium term”.
Truss was speaking as she travelled to New York for her first engagement abroad as UK premier, where she will attend the UN General Assembly.
She told the BBC’s Chris Mason that higher energy bills now were a “price worth paying for Britain, because our long-term security is paramount.”
Truss also said that the UK could not afford to compromise its security for “the sake of cheap energy” and that her Energy Price Guarantee would ensure that households are not left to foot “fuel bills that are unaffordable” for the moment.
Truss’ energy measures, which will be outlined in further detail this week, will cap energy bills at £2,500 per year for two years when prices are hiked in October.
Higher energy bills are largely being driven by Russia’s reduction of gas exports following international condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine.
In her speech at the UN, Truss intends to drum up further support for Ukraine and push for the West to end its energy dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Truss told the BBC that the Western world had become “too dependent on authoritarian regimes not just for our energy supplies, but also for other critical minerals and other goods” and that this needed to change.
The new Conservative leader also said that by 2040, the UK had the potential to become a net energy exporter if it followed through on her strategy.
Newly appointed chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will deliver a mini-Budget on Friday where the full plans for financing Truss’ energy strategy will be disclosed.
The Labour party has attacked Truss’ plans ahead of the mini-Budget, saying that they will not reduce bills nor bolster domestic energy security.
Truss’ strategy will largely be paid for by government borrowing, and Labour has been particularly critical of the fact that she has not chosen to extend the windfall tax on the profits of energy companies. This, the opposition party says, will see the bill be “picked up by working people.”
Meanwhile, Truss has promised to equal or go beyond the UK’s £2.3 billion of support provided to Ukraine over the previous seven months, after defensive forces won what she called a series of “inspirational” victories in recent weeks.
She said: “Time and time again, these brave people have defied the doubters and showed what they can do when given the military, economic and political support they need.”
Ahead of the UN meeting, Truss also revealed that in the “short-to-medium term”, a trade deal with the US was not on the table.
Boris Johnson's government had targeted a post-Brexit trade deal with its NATO ally by 2022, but no negotiations are currently taking place according to Truss.
“I don't have an expectation that those are going to start in the short-to-medium term,” Truss said.
Labour has also taken aim at the lack of a trading agreement with Washington DC, warning that it is “costing billions in lost potential trade opportunities and holding back growth”.
The UK did sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the US state of Indiana in May this year in a bid to hasten post-Brexit progress. This move came after prospects of an all-encompassing trade deal with the US were put on ice after president Joe Biden entered the White House at the beginning of 2021.
Biden has aired concerns over the post-Brexit trading situation in Northern Ireland and the UK’s intent to enable itself to take unilateral action on the Northern Ireland Protocol. This development has slammed the brakes on any progress toward a broad UK-US trade deal.
Image by Photographer: Simon Dawson / No10 Downing Street. Posted by: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP on Wikimedia Commons
