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The Business Secretary has said he is “convinced” the UK will not suffer gas shortages in the coming months – and insisted that a price cap on consumers’ energy bills “will not be moved” this winter.
Speaking to the Trevor Phillips On Sunday show, Mr Kwarteng said he was “convinced we will have full energy supply” despite soaring wholesale gas prices around the world – although he stopped short of offering a full guarantee that there would not be disruption.
He went on to claim he was in talks with Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s team on possible further support for businesses facing higher bills – but a Treasury source later told Sky News they are “not involved in any talks” and added that it wasn’t the first time Mr Kwarteng “has made things up in interviews”.
When asked if the UK would have uninterrupted gas supplies this winter, Mr Kwarteng told Sky News: “I’m as certain as I could be.”
He added: “Because obviously this is a global issue, so we’ve seen right across the world real supply chain pressures, you’ve seen the Chinese have power blackouts, they’re rationing supply.
“Here in the UK our job is to make sure there is minimal disruption and I’m very confident.”
The business secretary added: “There are two elements here; one is obviously the global price and I can’t predict, nobody can predict that.
“But one thing I am responsible for is the resilience of the UK system and, in that, I’m very confident we will be resilient.”
Mr Kwarteng also insisted huge price hikes in wholesale gas would not be wholly passed onto households as the energy price cap would remain unchanged this winter.
“I’ve been very clear about this. The price cap is the biggest shield in terms of consumer prices and I’ve said repeatedly that it will not be moved,” he added.
“It was set in August for the six-month period between 1 October and 1…
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Source : skynews
