Truss and Sunak urged to end silence on 'urgency' of soaring energy bills

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are invited to end their silence on the 'national emergency' of energy costs hitting £3,600 in just two months, after Labor pledged to freeze bills.

Independent experts and a former top government scientist have joined Sir Keir Starmer's party in arguing that the rallying crisis cannot wait for the end of the Tory leadership race which lasted all summer.

As the holiday Boris Johnson again declined to intervene, both candidates have come under fire for failing to explain how they would ease household pain if they reached No 10.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned the next government will have to spend another £12billion just to deliver aid already promised, due to the surge prices. said director Paul Johnson, warning that it would "leave many households far worse off still".

David King, a former chief scientific adviser, warned of "extreme suffering" to come, saying, "This could be the worst possible time for the leaders of this country to just sit back. How long are we waiting?"

And Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow climate change secretary, said self-deductions ticks would rise as soon as the new price cap was confirmed on August 26, "plunging millions of people into misery and anxiety".

"If this was a banking crisis, the government would act. If it was a war, the government would act. This is a national emergency facing families and it cannot wait,” he said.

“The Conservative candidates and the zombie government must end the appalling void of leadership and action.

But neither of the candidates – bracing for further roundups for the leadership in Scotland on Tuesday – have responded to Labour's plan to freeze bills for six months during the election. winter, at a cost of £29.3billion.

Sir Keir promised families wouldn't 'pay a penny more' if the proposal to freeze the price cap at £1,971 was passed, instead of allowing it to climb to the expected £3,600 in October - and £4,200 in January.

This would be funded by an enhanced windfall tax on energy companies (£8.1bn), the removal of £400 rebates for all households (£14.1bn) and lower interest payments on debt due to the reduction in inflation (£7.2bn).

But the IFS questioned the claim of lower inflation, which was just a "t...