Rachel Reeves signals that support package for household energy bills won’t kick in until autumn – UK politics live

Prime minister to give press conference from Downing Street

Peter Kyle, the business secretary, was telling people to carry on as normal this morning, in the light of concerns about fuel shortages. (See 9.24am.) In an analysis, Heather Stewart, the Guardian’s economics editor, suggests this might be the wrong message.

Here is an extract.

As the oil price surges once more, there are growing fears the government’s “don’t panic” messaging may be underplaying the scale of the challenges ahead and crowding out sensible advice on cutting consumption.

“It’s the wrong message,” says Andrew Sissons, the director of the climate programme at research foundation Nesta, referring to the government’s communications so far on the war’s impact. “The reality is that the global supply of oil and gas is going to be down by maybe 20%. It’s a supply crisis, which means everybody needs to consume less” …

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents 12,000 food and drink manufacturers, hiked its inflation forecast for the year in light of the conflict.

Economists for the trade body are now predicting that food inflation will reach at least 9% by the end of the year, up from the 3.2% that it had forecast in September last year.