Liz Truss to give go-ahead for more North Sea oil and gas drilling

Liz Truss WON’T finalise new energy bills help until she has ‘full support and advice’ only available to a PM – as she prepares to give go-ahead for more oil and gas drilling in North Sea in a bid to ease cost-of-living crisis

• Liz Truss will not finalise plans for more energy bills help until she becomes PM
• Foreign Secretary widely expected to replace Boris Johnson in No10 next week 
• She could also issue up to 130 new oil and gas drilling licences in North Sea 

Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss will not finalise her plans to provide more cost of living support for struggling households until she has the full Whitehall system at her disposal.

The Foreign Secretary, who is widely expected to replace Boris Johnson next week, is set to wait until she has the ‘full support and advice’ available to a prime minister before putting together a new package of measures.

Ms Truss has pledged to slash National Insurance and cut green levies on energy bills if she becomes PM, while she has also hinted at further support for hard-pressed Britons.

As well as her plan to introduce emergency measures to help families with soaring gas and electricity bills this winter, Ms Truss is also due to use her first days in office to approve a series of new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea.

In a bid to bolster the UK’s energy security, as many as 130 licences could be issued after recent meetings between ministers and oil and gas companies.

Liz Truss is set to wait until she has the ‘full support and advice’ available to a prime minister before putting together a new package of measures

Ms Truss is also due to use her first days in office to approve a series of new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Kwasi Kwarteng are reported to have been meeting oil and gas companies to negotiate a deal to secure energy supplies this winter

Aside from her plans to tax cuts, Ms Truss has been ambiguous during the Tory leadership contest about what further help she will offer Britons as average energy bills soar by thousands of pounds a year.

It has been reported she could slash VAT by five per cent across the board, while the Foreign Secretary is also said to be leaning towards targeted support for the poorest over help for all – although her team insisted she is not ‘ruling anything out’.

Labour have attacked Ms Truss for ‘flip-flopping’ from one policy idea to another, claiming it is ‘causing the country unnecessary worry about their bills’.

But the Foreign Secretary’s team insisted she would have to wait until entering Downing Street before deciding on a full package of support.

A campaign source said: ‘Liz and her team are working to ensure that they are able to hit the ground running if she is elected Prime Minister.

‘Access meetings with the Cabinet Secretary have been offered to provide limited briefings to help prepare for forming an administration.

‘But addressing the cost of living crisis will rightly require the full support and advice that is only available to the government of the day.’

Two allies of Ms Truss – Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg – are reported to have been meeting oil and gas companies to negotiate a deal to secure energy supplies this winter.

According to The Times, the pair – who have both been tipped for top Treasury jobs under a Ms Truss administration – are pursuing a two-pronged approach thay involves securing more gas from Norway while maximising domestic production. 

The newspaper said up to 130 new North Sea drilling licences will be issued by Ms Truss, should she become PM.

In addition, oil and gas companies will be encouraged to heavily invest in their existing sites in order to optimise production ahead of winter. 

The North Sea contains the equivalent of around 15 billion barrels of oil and gas, according to the latest estimates, with British consumers equating to one billion barrels annually.

Ms Truss has already ruled out a fresh Windfall tax on energy companies, suggesting the idea was ‘all about bashing business’.

Last week she wrote in the Daily Mail that she will end the ban on fracking as part of a plan to make the UK an ‘energy-secure dynamo’.

Mr Kwarteng, who is tipped to be Ms Truss’s Chancellor, has long been an advocate of drilling in the North Sea, much to the chagrin of environmental activists.

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