RISHI Sunak today suggested he might have to give Brits a THIRD bailout next year if energy bills carry on rising.
The Chancellor twice refused to rule out coming back with another emergency package to ease the cost of living pain if it carries on.
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Just hours after he announced a huge £21billion of support as inflation soars and bills go up, Mr Sunak told the BBC: “We are sitting here in May, we don’t know what energy bills will be next April.
“I think people can judge me by my actions over the past couple of years.
“I’ve always tried to be responsive to the situation that the country and the economy is experiencing, we’ll always act like that.”
He said he warnted to reassure people that “we will get through this” and inflation will eventually come down.
And he pointed out that rising benefits in line with inflation will give Brits an extra hand up next spring, when hopefully it will have fallen.
Energy bills are expected to reach a whopping £2,800 in October, the watchdog said earlier this week – up by another £800.
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Mr Sunak said that the most vulnerable households will get an average of help £1,200 this year – appoximately the same amount that bills are set to go up this year.
Direct debit and credit customers will have the cash sent straight to their accounts, while it will be applied to the meters of those on pre-pay plans.
But he insisted it would be “bad for our kids” to keep on dishing out money and borrowing more for ever and ever.
Yesterday the Chancellor set out his second cost of living package in six months to help hard-up Brits.
Britain’s annual inflation rate has surged to a 40-year high on rocketing energy costs, squeezing household budgets and leaving many struggling to make ends meet.
Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, hit nine per cent in April, up from from seven per cent in March.
This, coupled with the conflict in Ukraine and the pandemic, has pushed energy and food prices up and forced banks to ramp up interest rates.
Every household will get £400 later this year – which won’t need to paid back – to ease their bills hell.
In a huge splurge, eight million low income households will get a cash payment of £650.
Pensioners will get another £300, and those on disabled benefits another £150.
Finally, a staggering £500m will be added to the Household Support Fund to assist those most in need combat the rising cost of food, energy, and water bills.
Some of the extra cash will be raised with a new windfall tax on the profits of huge oil and gas firms – for the next three years.
But it’s come under attack from Tories – who say the plans are another “socialist” package and are “unconservative”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg came out today to whack the tax, saying it won’t be “cost free” and could hit jobs and investment.
In a stinging takedown of the tax, he told Sky: “People need to understand that there is not a tax that you can take that is economically cost-free.
“It doesn’t matter which tax it is, it will have an economic consequence.
“Whether it’s a pasty tax, or it’s an excess profits tax, there is an economic consequence.”
Mr Sunak was blasted for giving everyone the £400 energy discount – even those with second homes and the rich who don’t need it.
But this morning he defended the policy – and suggested that the rich should join him in giving the extra cash to charity instead.
Mr Sunak told MPs yesterday in the Commons: “We need to make sure that for those whom the struggle is too hard and for whom the risks are too great they are supported.
“This Government will not sit idly by while there is a risk that some in our country might be set so far back they might never recover.
“This is simply unacceptable and we will never allow that to happen.
“And I want to reassure everybody that we will get through this, we have the tools and the determination we need to combat and reduce inflation, we will make sure the most vulnerable and least well-off get the support they need at this time of difficulty, and we will turn this moment of difficulty into a springboard for economic renewal and growth.”
Am I elligible for the extra cash help?
Who is eligible for the £650 payment?
Those on the following benefits will get the £650 help, the government has said.
Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Income Support
Working Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
Pension Credit
When will I get the £650 payment?
The £650 payment will be made in two lump sums for those on benefits paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The first will be made “from July” and a second will arrive in Autumn.
Specific dates for the payments have not been announced yet.
Payments for those on tax credits which come from HMRC will “follow shortly after” each of these payments.
This is to avoid people getting paid twice if they get other benefits on top of tax credits.
Anyone who was in receipt of any of the eligible benefit payments as of May 25, or who had started a claim and is later successful will get the first payment.
Eligibility for the second payment will be announced later on, with a second date applying for the later tranche of cash.
It means you’ll get £325 in July and another payment in £325, if you’re eligible on both dates.
