UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to deliver a speech on Thursday to focus on housing and the cost of living as he reportedly tries to “reset” his premiership following his 6 June survival of a no-confidence vote.
According to extracts of the speech released by Downing Street, Johnson will, in particular, vow to use the government’s “fiscal firepower” to help UK households, but will keep mum on broader pledges of cost-saving policies.
The message will come after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggested that the UK economy might slow to a standstill next year, in a forecast that came as petrol prices in Britain climbed to new record highs.
In its half-yearly economic outlook, the leading international think tank singled out the UK’s cost of living crisis as a reason for the country sliding down the international growth league table, arguing that in 2023, Britain would turn into the weakest economy in the G7 group of leading industrial nations.
With inflation in the UK already hitting a 40-year-high of 9%, the OECD warned that the figure would continue rising to peak at above 10% later this year. According to the think tank, the British economy will grow by 3.6% in 2022 and there will be zero growth in 2023.
The forecasts followed the average price for a litre of petrol in Britain soaring to 178.5p for the first time ever, according to data firm Experian Catalist. The price of diesel also reached a record high of 185.2p per litre.
Simon Williams, spokesperson for the UK’s Royal Automobile Council (RAC), warned that “worse is still to come” because of the rising costs of oil due to the Ukraine conflict. On 24 February, Russia launched a special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine following request for help from the Donbass republics who asked Moscow to protect them from Kiev’s provocations.
“Sadly, we expect to see the average price of petrol [in the UK] break through the 180p mark this week, with diesel moving further towards 190p”, Williams pointed out.
He underscored that “more radical government intervention is urgently needed, whether that’s in the form of a further reduction in fuel duty or a VAT [value added tax] cut”.
Williams was echoed by Michael Lewis, the chief executive of the energy firm E.ON UK, who said late last month that “more government intervention” is needed to prevent 40% of British households from finding themselves in fuel poverty this autumn.
Fuel poverty is a term used to describe those households which have to spend more than 10% of their disposable income on home energy in order to maintain an adequate standard of warmth.
Lewis argued that the rise in energy prices was “predominantly” down to the ongoing Ukraine conflict, which disrupts energy supplies from Russia, adding, “in my 30 years in the energy industry, I have never seen prices increase at this rate”.
BoJo Reportedly Wants Cabinet Reshuffle After Surviving Confidence Vote
The Guardian has, meanwhile, claimed that the OECD’s grim forecast for the British economy and the country’s soaring fuel prices have dealt “a double blow” to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s alleged attempts to “reset” his premiership after he survived Monday’s confidence vote by a narrower-than-expected margin of 211 to 148.
The newspaper also quoted rebel Tory MPs as claiming that Johnson will “blow himself up” with further scandals over the summer as they are reportedly ready to go ahead with efforts to oust BoJo following his survival of the confidence vote. The rebel MPs reportedly believe that the potential new scandals could lead to a situation where the rules protecting Johnson from another confidence vote can be changed to force him from office.
The Telegraph, in turn, reported on Wednesday that the PM and a group of about 20 Tory MPs are considering the possibility of a speedy government reshuffle, including whether to start the process within days.
Johnson’s press secretary, however, insisted that there were currently “no plans” for a shake-up of his ministerial team, and flatly denied allegations that former Foreign Secretary Jeremy was being lined up to replace Chancellor Rishi Sunak, telling reporters: “There is no vacancy for this role.”
In a PMQ event, BoJo, for his part, asserted that his premiership had “barely begun” and claimed he had “picked up political opponents all over the place” because the government was achieving “some very big and very remarkable things”.
“Absolutely nothing and no one […] is going to stop us from getting on with delivering for the British people”, he added.