Boris Johnson refuses to call emergency Cobra meeting after returning from holiday
DOWNING Street has rejected calls for a meeting of the government’s Cobra Civil Contingencies Committee to address the cost of living crisis.
Writing in the Daily Record on Monday, former prime minister Gordon Brown called for “urgent action” to cover further rises in fuel bills amid “millions on the brink of financial ruin”.
He called on Boris Johnson to team up with Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to draft and agree an emergency budget.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said Johnson – who returned to No.10 after a holiday in Slovenia – would speak to Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to ensure support measures due to come into effect later in the year remain on track .
However, a spokesman said any further action would be a matter for the next prime minister.
Either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will be chosen for number 10 next month.
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“It is clear that these global pressures mean challenging times for the public. The government has recognized that the end of the year will present wider challenges with things like changes to the (energy) price cap,” the spokesman said.
“That’s why we introduced a number of measures to help the population at the beginning of the summer. It is clear that some global pressures have increased since this was announced.
“According to the agreement, this prime minister must not carry out major fiscal interventions during this period. It will be for the future prime minister.”
Brown said earlier on Monday: “Cobra, the UK government’s emergency committee, should be in permanent session to deal with the coming fuel and energy crisis.
“Even if Boris Johnson went on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and urgently create additional storage capacity that we currently lack.
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“We should be persuading homes and buildings – as Germany is now doing – to reduce energy consumption wherever possible in the hope that we can prevent official rationing.”
The former prime minister also spoke on Good Morning Britain on Monday, where he claimed there was a “vacuum” at the heart of the government that was preventing it from dealing with the crisis.
He said: “Someone has to be in charge. And it’s not just that they’re asleep at the wheel – there’s nobody behind the wheel right now.”