Theresa May could ditch plans for an energy price cap after being urged to by Cabinet Ministers
PM ready to dumps ‘toxic’ policies from her disastrous manifesto after losing her majority last Thursday
THERESA MAY is preparing to ditch radical plans for an energy price cap as she dumps ‘toxic’ policies from her disastrous manifesto, sources claimed tonight.
The Sun can reveal Cabinet Ministers have told the PM to axe her flagship proposal for an “absolute” cap on gas and electricity prices from the Queen’s Speech to appease Tories worried about going to war with business.
The PM is instead preparing to outline a big investment in smart meters to deliver greater competition and bring bills down.
One source said: “We have to get back to our free market roots.”
Downing Street refused to comment ahead of the Queen’s Speech – which could be delayed beyond its scheduled date of June 19th.
Business Secretary Greg Clark has demanded action to fix the energy market and help millions of customers being “milked” by the Big Six.
But sources claim Chancellor Philip Hammond and Communities Secretary Sajid Javid are among those urging the PM to think again.
Influential Tory backbencher Nigel Evans yesterday said: “A lot of stuff in that manifesto is going to be junked and I look forward to that.”
Theresa May in April vowed to intervene in the “broken” energy market and introduce a cap to knock £100 a year off 17 million people’s energy bills.
Tories said the policy was the work of the PM’s ex-chief of staff Nick Timothy, who quit over the weekend after the Election result.
The Sun launched its ‘Power to the People’ campaign in October last year – demanding a fair deal for customers being ripped off by as much as £389 a year by energy giants.
Tory campaigner John Penrose has demanded answers.
He told the Sun: “The Big 6 are trying stitch this up. Millions of energy customers have been ripped off for decades and all parties agreed in their manifestos that we need some sort of energy price cap to stop it.”
Senior Tories on Monday said the Tories would have to drop “insane” calls to bring back fox hunting the social care shake-up from the Queen’s Speech.
MPs also called for an end to the public sector pay cap.