Does anybody remember how, a few years ago, David Cameron and George Osborne justified imposing austerity on the UK – restricting government spending on public services and cutting public sector pay – by saying the national debt should not be handed down to future generations?

I mention this because today (Thursday, September 8, 2022), Liz Truss seems to have told households their energy debt will be extended into the future, to be paid off by an unspecified date.

It seems the Tories are all about ending public debt (although let’s remember they failed at that), but also all about shifting it onto private citizens instead – while protecting the profits of shareholders in privatised energy firms.

The plan involves capping energy bills at £2,500 per year for two years – this superceding the £3,549 cap announced by Ofgem last month. We will still pay more than we are now – even though many people already cannot afford the cost and will have to take out loans at varying degrees of unfairness.

A fund will be set up for people who do not get their energy through traditional means, like those who use oil or are on shared building networks

Businesses get a six-month scheme, after which time the government will provide “focused support” to be determined by the Business Secretary (Jacob Rees-Mogg) over the period of the blanket support scheme.

Green levies are being suspended.

The massive profits of the energy-generation companies will be safeguarded by Truss and her Tory government.

Truss said she would not impose a windfall tax on the energy generators because this would undermine the national interest by discouraging the investment needed to secure energy supplies generated in the UK.

But Opposition leader Keir Starmer contradicted the claim, saying energy generators have made it clear that if the government taxed their profits away from them, they would not cancel any of their investment schemes.

Truss did not say who would be paying the cost of imposing the new cap or how; this will be announced by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng as part of a fiscal event later in the month. This Writer believes it will push the burden onto households – hence my suggestion that we will be forced into long-term debt because of it.

It also suggests that Truss is trying to prevent – or delay – debate about who pays. It also supports my suggestion yesterday that Truss is trying to build a zombie economy in which working people are forced to toil constantly, simply to service the debts that have been forced on them by rich, lazy Tory MPs who are themselves in thrall to rich, lazy business donors.

Oh – and fracking is back on the table again. Those of you in areas where fracking has been proposed can look forward to earthquakes, damage to your property, and a blight on the price of your home in the near future. It won’t affect Truss and her Tory pals!