As Liz Truss, Boris Johnson’s expected successor, still refuses to specify what extra help she might give households to pay bills, Darling said a key lesson from the 2008 crash was that action had to be fast and radical. “You need something substantial and substantial and you need it now because the people’s bills will start coming in in a few weeks,” Darling, who served as chancellor under Gordon Brown, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “If you don’t do that, then you have the risks I’ve outlined, that the economy will slide into recession, with all that entails. And when you realize that in addition to the fact that you already have inflation at very, very high levels that we haven’t seen since the 1970s, this is a deadly cocktail, so bold action by the government is needed now, without dealing with small measures that frankly won’t make any difference.” While the government has already offered some support to households, Darling said it was no longer sufficient to meet the scale of the crisis. He said: “Honestly, the things that have been announced so far could have been put together earlier this year. It just won’t happen now. You need something much more substantial than that, unless you’re willing to see substantial damage done to our economy.” One lesson from 2008 was that “you have to do more than people expect and you have to do it faster than people expect if it’s going to work,” Darling said. “It will cost money. When I announced the package in 2008, when it was the banking crisis, it totaled around £500 billion, but we actually got all that money back in the following years. Therefore, what I think we need to see today from the government, from the new prime minister, are measures that will be big enough to deal with it.” Energy prices, which will rise by 80% in October and spike again in January, mean 23% of UK adults will not use the heating at all this winter, a new poll says. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Truss has not ruled out offering direct support to people with energy bills, but has repeatedly said her primary focus will be on tax cuts, an intervention that would disproportionately benefit well-off households and offer little or no help to dependents from pensions or benefits. The result of the Conservative leadership contest will be announced next Monday, with Truss almost certain to beat Rishi Sunak. The winner is expected to become prime minister the next day.
