Minister denies Business Minister Kwasi Kwarting lied about the possibility of providing more support to companies amid the energy crisis | politics news

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A minister denied that the business minister had lied when he said there were ongoing talks in the government about helping manufacturers and energy companies.

Appearing on Sky News, Home Secretary Damian Hinds was asked if Kwasi Quarting had lied when he claimed his team was in discussions with the Treasury, something that department quickly denied.

“Of course not,” Hinds told Kay Burley.

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Business Secretary on Gas Price Cap and Fuel Costs

“These unnamed stories come from time to time,” he said.

“The reality is that government departments and government ministers talk to each other all the time and of course with an issue like this, with global prices going up and the business that they have to deal with and deal with to make sure they are on par and they can achieve a margin of course this is something that will be entirely focused on the business minister – and of course the minister energy.

“Something that the Treasury Department focuses on, of course, very much as the department of economic management of the nation.”

Mr Kwarteng made the claim in an interview with Trevor Phillips on Sunday, where he also said he was “convinced” that the UK would not experience gas shortages in the coming months – and insisted that capping the price of energy bills for consumers “will not be carried over” this winter.

The business secretary said he was “convinced that we will have a full supply of energy” despite rising wholesale gas prices around the world – although he did not give full guarantees that there would be no outages.

Mr Kwarteng added that he had been “constantly talking” with the industry about their energy needs and prices and was “engaged” with the Treasury on the issue.

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But he said he had not requested support for the companies, adding: “We’ve already got support, and it’s very clear that a lot of them are working.

“On the consumer side, we have a cap on the price of energy, and on the industry side we have measures in which we support industries, heavy electricity users.

“What I’m clear about is that we need to help them get through this – it’s a tough situation, gas prices, electricity prices are at very high levels all over the world, and of course I’m talking to my colleagues in government, particularly in the Treasury, to try and find a way around it. that “.

But a Treasury source told Sky News on Sunday that they were “not involved in any conversations” and added that this was not the first time that Mr. Quarting had “made things up in interviews”.

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The “inappropriate disagreement” was “extraordinary,” said Pat McFadden, Labor’s shadow economy minister.

“We have a jobs crisis facing a number of energy-intensive industries such as steel, ceramics, papermaking, etc.,” he told Kay Burley.

“They are asking for help from the government and instead of addressing their concerns, what we have is this improper rift between the Treasury and the Department of Business.

“Where the Treasury has not only accused the Secretary of Business of making things up, but they have gone out of their way to say they are not involved in any conversations about helping these industries.

“If they are not involved they should be involved.

“So far we have been focused on the impact of all this on domestic consumers and that is understandable, but this is a jobs crisis now facing key industries in the UK.”

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