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Liz Truss, UK prime minister, has announced an estimated £150bn package to shield Britain from soaring energy prices — but with just six months’ cover for business compared with two years for households. The dramatic state intervention was accompanied by promises to increase domestic oil and gas production, restart fracking for shale gas and reform

The Bank of England’s chief economist said on Wednesday that plans by Liz Truss for a freeze in energy bills for households and businesses was likely to force the central bank to raise interest rates despite bringing down the rate of inflation in the months ahead. Asked by MPs on the House of Commons Treasury

Liz Truss has vowed that Britain will “ride out the storm”, as the new UK prime minister began the task of confronting an economic crisis with a massive package of energy support for families and businesses. Truss dodged torrential downpours sweeping Downing Street to tell the country that she would create an “aspiration nation”, adding:

Liz Truss has comfortably won the race to become leader of the Conservative party and on Tuesday will become Britain’s prime minister, facing one of the most daunting economic crises of recent times. The foreign secretary beat her rival Rishi Sunak, former chancellor, in a ballot of Conservative party members by 81,326 votes to 60,399

Liz Truss, widely expected to be named Britain’s prime minister on Monday, has promised to tackle the cost of living crisis in her first week in Number 10, as she looks to accelerate long-term reforms to the electricity market. Truss, the foreign secretary, said she would immediately set out “action on energy bills and energy

Surging inflation, the rising cost of government debt and Liz Truss’s promises on tax cuts and defence spending will blow a £60bn hole in the public finances by the middle of the decade, according to Financial Times calculations. Although Truss, favourite to be named Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, has said she will stick

The G7 countries have agreed to introduce a price cap on purchases of Russian oil in an attempt to limit the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war against Ukraine. The initiative will hinge on an incentive system whereby importers seeking insurance cover and shipping services from companies based in G7 and EU countries to transport

Global stocks dropped and the dollar jumped after fresh Covid-19 lockdowns in China and gloomy data from the manufacturing powerhouse compounded investor worries that the global economy is faltering. Wall Street’s S&P 500 fell 1.1 per cent in mid-morning trading on Thursday, leaving it on track to close down for a fifth day in what

Russia has halted the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe for three days, the latest disruption to an energy link that has been central to Moscow’s efforts to squeeze supplies. Wednesday’s shutdown of the pipeline, which Russia claims is needed for essential maintenance, will add to anxiety in European countries

Big investors are betting on a fresh surge in UK borrowing costs because of mounting concerns the energy crisis will inflame inflation and trigger further Bank of England rate rises. The darkening outlook for the £2tn gilt market comes as surging energy prices exacerbate Britain’s cost of living crisis and heighten fears of recession. Goldman

The EU is preparing emergency measures to curb soaring electricity prices, as the cost of energy breaks records across the continent and utilities turn to the state for emergency support.  As EU officials work to relieve the pressure, Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said the surge in electricity prices was “exposing the limitations

Outgoing UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Sunday warned that the country would face “eye-watering” energy bills and promised his successor would soon announce a “huge package” of financial support for struggling households. Writing in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson said that while Russia wanted the UK to “buckle” in the face of surging

Typical household energy bills in Britain will rise above £3,500 in October and could exceed £6,000 by April. But why are they suddenly going up by so much and what can be done to mitigate the impact on households and the wider economy? Why are bills soaring? The simple answer is the price of gas

The typical UK household gas and electricity bill will rise to £3,549 a year from October from £1,971 at present, the sector’s regulator confirmed on Friday, as consumers grapple with a cost of living crisis driven by soaring energy costs. Ofgem said the 80 per cent increase in the so-called price cap, which governs the

Financial markets are betting the Bank of England will more than double interest rates by May next year, as concern mounts about further rises in UK inflation. The shift in expectations in the swap market — which anticipates interest rates of 4 per cent in May compared with 1.75 per cent today — are among

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has moved to restore Japan’s status as a nuclear-powered nation for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima crisis, accelerating the restart of reactors and signalling the construction of new plants. Kishida’s decision to throw his political weight behind the nuclear power sector is intended to rein in soaring energy costs

The euro hit a fresh two-decade low against the dollar on Tuesday as fears of tighter US Federal Reserve monetary policy and a European energy crisis darkened investor sentiment. Europe’s common currency fell as much as 0.4 per cent to $0.9899 to reach a fresh 20-year low, having dropped below parity with the dollar on

UK inflation is on course to hit 18.6 per cent in January — the highest peak in almost half a century — because of soaring wholesale gas prices, according to a new forecast from Citigroup based on the latest market prices. The investment bank predicted that the country’s retail energy price cap — which limits

The daughter of a Russian ideologue, who is one of the most prominent supporters of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, died in a car bombing outside Moscow on Saturday night. Russian investigators said Daria Dugina, a nationalist journalist and political analyst, died after the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving exploded outside Odintsovo, a

Some investors are warning of a mismatch between market expectations and the Federal Reserve’s stated commitment to stamping out inflation as traders stand by their wagers on interest rate cuts next year. Traders in the futures market are betting the central bank’s main interest rate will be cut to 3.3 per cent by the end