New PM Liz Truss promises to 'deal' with people's energy bills amid cost of living crisis

Liz Truss will officially become the country's third female prime minister after securing her victory in the Tory leadership contest.

She narrowly beat rival Rishi Sunak with 81,326 votes to 60,399 and will become Boris Johnson's successor on Tuesday. It means she will inherit the responsibility of solving the country's soaring cost of living crisis as millions of households face skyrocketing energy bills throughout the winter period.

During a BBC interview on Sunday, Ms Truss pledged to implement a plan to help people with their bills during her first week of leadership if she was elected. However, at the time, she failed to provide any concrete details on how she would carry this out.

Read more: Martin Lewis tells former MP 'You cannot ignore the rise in bills' following row over cost of living 'catastrophe'

In her victory speech, Liz Truss said: “Thank you for putting your faith in me to lead our great Conservative Party, the greatest political party on earth. I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people: our beliefs in freedom, in the ability to control your own life, in low taxes, in personal responsibility.

“I know that’s why people voted for us in such numbers in 2019 and as your party leader I intend to deliver what we promised those voters right across our great country."

She continued: “We all will deliver for our country and I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative Party, our brilliant Members of Parliament and peers, our fantastic councillors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country.

“Because my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver. And we will deliver a great victory for