Liz Truss, about to be elected as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The British Conservative Party finalizes the preparations to announce this Monday the new leader of the formation, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunakwho will replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the midst of the serious energy crisis.

The formation will announce tomorrow around 11:30 local time the winner of the internal consultation for his leadership, who on Tuesday will assume as chief of the Executive, while there is a question about the measures he will take to face the exponential increase -of 80% – of price of energy bills Starting this October.

The british foreign secretaryLiz Truss, is the favourite, according to the media, to win Tory leadershipafter party members -some 160,000- voted in recent weeks by traditional mail or electronically.

[Truss y Sunak se enzarzan por los impuestos en un debate áspero para suceder a Boris Johnson]

Even though that him former Minister of EconomyRishi Sunak, received the largest number of supports among Conservative MPs -in the first phase of this internal process-, Truss is a popular figure among the grassroots, in part because of his insistence on cutting taxes, a traditional “Tory” promise.

Meeting with Elizabeth II

Once the winner’s name is announced, Johnson and the new leader will travel to the balmoral castlein Scotland, to hold their respective audiences with Queen Elizabeth II.

Johnson will first formally present his resignation to the 96-year-old sovereign, while the queen will then call Truss or Sunak (depending on who wins tomorrow) to ask him to form a government.

Once this constitutional act of rigor has been completed, the new Prime Minister will travel to London to appoint their ministers.

Energy crisis

The “premier” will take office amid public concern about the rise in energy prices, after the sector regulator, Ofgem, announced in August that the maximum price that energy companies will be able to charge homes per year as of this October 1 has been set at 3,549 pounds (4,202 euros)compared to the current one of 1,971 pounds (2,325 euros), a 80% hike.

Opposition parties have asked the two Tory candidates reveal the measures they will take.

However, Truss -favorite- did not want to advance the specific announcements today but assured that she will act in the one week after assuming power. “I think we face very serious challenges. I will act within a week, (but) I can’t say what I will do,” she said.

“If I am elected prime minister, in a week I will ensure that there is an announcement on how we are going to deal with the problem of energy bills and long-term supply,” he told the BBC.

[La crisis de Liz Truss: Londres podría gobernar las Islas Vírgenes tras la detención de su ‘premier’]

“What I want is to reassure people that I will act, if I am elected as prime minister, in a week,” she insisted.

Sunak pointed out, for his part, also to the BBC that, if he is prime minister, he will help all households, but the first to receive direct financial assistance will be the families with the lowest incomes and pensioners.

The Labor MP Emily Thornberryin the British opposition, described today as “extraordinary” that neither of the two candidates revealed concrete measures.

Those affected will not only be those with “the lower resources“, but also those of “middle income”, and “we are going to have the majority of the country in energy poverty unless something is done,” the deputy told the BBC network.

The energy rise responds to the increase in wholesale gas prices globally as the economies reactivated after the pandemic and also due to the war in Ukraine.

Possible inflation to 13%

Rising energy prices are expected to push up British year-on-year inflation further, which stands at 10.1% but could reach 13% or more by the end of the year.

This increase in the cost of living has led many sectors to support strikes demanding better wages.

The United Kingdom faced what the media already call the “summer of discontent” by the series of stoppages, among them that of the British Post Office, longshoremen or railway workers.