Liz Truss pledges action on energy bills in first week but warns ‘not all decisions will be popular’

Liz Truss has warned she will take unpopular decisions as she pledged to act immediately on soaring energy bills if she becomes prime minister this week.

An announcement on energy security and costs will be made within a week if she beats her rival to become Conservative leader, she said.

Despite gathering storm clouds and warnings her response to the crisis could have to be on the scale of the Covid furlough scheme she said that “Britain has been through worse, frankly.”

But she insisted she did not underestimate the challenges her government will face.

And she warned the public, who did not get a say in the choice of the new prime minister, that there would be difficult decisions ahead and “not all those decisions will be popular”.

But her refusal to set out details of what the help could look like was criticised by Labour’s Emily Thornberry, who characterised the response as “’I can’t possible tell you, I can tell you in a week’. I mean, why not?”

Asked if the UK was at crisis point during an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg Ms Truss said: “We face very, very serious challenges, which will take immediate action from the government. ”

Pressed on what that action would look like, she that within a week she would set out how her government would deal with skyrocketing energy bills and the question of long-term supply.

She added: “What I can’t do... is tell you exactly what that announcement would be. We still don’t know the outcome of this leadership contest. So, it would be completely wrong.”

But she warned voters they would not like every measure she announced. “I will be clear with the public about what we are going to face,” she said, “there will be difficult decisions to be made … not all those decisions will be popular.”

Ms Truss also staunchly defended her planned tax cuts, describing them as “fair” as she admitted that they could be worth almost £2,000 to top earners. She said that “to look at everything through the lens of redistribution, I believe, is wrong. Because what I’m about is about growing the economy and growing the economy benefits everybody."

Ms Truss argues that cutting taxes will raise revenue in the long term, in part by encouraging more businesses to invest in the UK.