Still no action as Government urges energy companies to do more on costs - The Yorkshire Post says

It comes amidst weeks of stalemate at the heart of Government as the Conservatives continue to squabble over who should be their next leader and ultimately hold the keys to Number 10.

While this isn’t the decisive action many, who face a winter of uncertainty, have been crying out for, there is at least acknowledgement that more needs to be done to help households through this crisis.

The question now is whether or not energy companies respond to the Government’s calls made at a roundtable meeting between bosses and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

But after the meeting the PM once again doubled down on taking any further action that could alleviate pressure on households saying that fiscal decisions should be left to his successor.

It leads to the question: why did Mr Johnson even stay on as a caretaker PM if he is unable to take any action during a crisis that is only going to get worse?

All that the PM had to offer was: “We will keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost-of-living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security.”

The Treasury did at least say that ministers would continue to evaluate the “extraordinary profits” seen in certain parts of the electricity generation sector. Whether and what actions it takes remains to be seen with both the Chancellor and Business Secretary against extending the windfall tax.

As Bill Carmichael writes in these pages today, it will need more than Government intervention to make it through the coming winter. We may well need the same togetherness that we saw during the first lockdown.