The chancellor is spending several days across the Atlantic for discussions on cooperation in financial services, support for Ukraine and energy security, the finance ministry said. But the visit comes as Mr Zahawi has no real power in the job handed to him by Boris Johnson at the start of July, because whoever wins the Tory leadership race next Monday is almost certain to be ousted. Liz Truss, the overwhelming favourite, is expected to appoint business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to No 11 – with Mr Zahawi demoted to health secretary. Labor attacked the visit while the public is “desperately worried about massive energy bill rises” and both the government and leadership candidates are silent. “We are stuck with this do-nothing Tory government. Now we find out the chancellor is flying on an international chinwag,” said James Murray, shadow chancellor of the exchequer. “Instead of going on another spree at the expense of the taxpayer, the chancellor should start listening to people here at home and implement Labour’s fully funded plan to freeze energy bills.” But the Treasury is pointing to Mr Zahawi to meet bank chiefs at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the “target” of new standards for US-UK financial services commitments. He will then head to Washington to discuss with the US central bank, US Treasury and international financial institutions support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression and “the global economic outlook”. Mr Zahawi is “expected to show a desire for increased civilian nuclear cooperation and closer collaboration between the UK and US nuclear industries to develop technologies such as small and advanced modular reactors”. He will also hold talks on transforming the UK economy into a “competitive green technology economic hub” and visit a biopharmaceutical facility, the Treasury said. At the weekend, Mr Zahawi pressed Ms Truss to step up her emergency living costs plans, saying people earning £45,000 would need government help. The leadership frontrunner has caused confusion about her intentions – first announcing that she has “cut off” aid for every household, before backtracking on that stance. The outgoing chancellor warned the crisis – with average annual bills at £3,549 from October and expected to top £5,300 from January – meant the next prime minister would need to do much more. Meanwhile, Victoria Prendi, a minister at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told Times Radio on Monday that the government was working on plans to help households. “It’s right that people need help and I’m really here to try and make sure that the government makes plans to help people as they’re going to need it with their energy bills this winter,” he said. It comes as Alistair Darling, Labor chancellor during the 2008 crash, joined calls for bold action to avoid a “lethal cocktail” of recession and high inflation. “You need something important and substantial and you need it now because the people’s bills will start coming in in a few weeks,” he told the BBC. “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.” Ms Truss has also been warned by a leading economist that she will “collapse the public finances” if she pursues a huge cut in VAT. The potential next prime minister has presented a plan to cut sales tax by 5 per cent – but Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, accused Ms Truss of a “simplistic” view that the tax cut could cope. sinking living standards – taking the cost of the 5% VAT cut to just £39bn. “Clearly you can’t do all this without completely collapsing the public finances,” he told the Times. “This simplistic mantra that you cut taxes and the economy grows more, that you cut taxes when you have a big deficit and high inflation and you don’t do it with any other part of the plan, is quite troubling.”
