UK to cap energy prices, end fracking ban to ease crisis
British Prime Minister Liz Truss says her Conservative government will cap domestic energy prices for homes and businesses to ease the cost-of-living crisis
LONDON (AP) — New British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced Thursday that her Conservative government will cap domestic energy prices for homes and businesses to ease a cost-of-living crisis that has left residents across the United Kingdom facing a bleak winter.
The moves are a huge government intervention in the economy by Truss, who sees herself as a small-state, free-market conservative. She says she favors tax cuts over handouts, but she has been forced to act by the scale of the crisis as Russia's war in Ukraine has sent energy prices surging.
Truss also said she will approve more North Sea oil drilling and lift a ban on fracking to increase the domestic energy supply.
It was a huge policy announcement from a prime minister who only took office on Tuesday. And it was overshadowed by concerns about Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday afternoon at 96 after 70 years on the throne.
