New prime minister Liz Truss announced today in Parliament that the government will cap household energy bills for typical households at £2,500 for the next two years. They will also cap energy bills for businesses, charities and public services for the next six months.
A snap YouGov poll, conducted this afternoon, finds that eight in ten (80%) say they support the policy, including 42% who ‘strongly’ support it.
Only one in ten Britons (10%) oppose the policy, including just 4% who say they ‘strongly’ oppose the plan.
The proposal is popular across the political spectrum, with backing from 88% of Conservative voters and 79% of Labour voters.
However, most Britons think more needs to be done. Over half of Britons (56%) think what the government has proposed today is too little, with only a quarter (24%) saying it’s about right. Just 3% think it’s too much.
Three-quarters of Labour voters (74%) say the proposals don’t do enough, as do a plurality of 44% of Conservative voters.
Sparring with Keir Starmer after the announcement, Truss rejected again Labour’s call for a windfall tax (an additional one-off tax on energy and oil companies who have seen larger profits due to energy prices) to partially cover the cost of the price freeze.
However, she is swimming against the tide of public opinion on this matter. Two thirds of Britons (68%) say there should be a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in order to help fund the cap, including more than three in five of her own party’s voters (64%).
