Liz Truss has admitted that she "should have been more specific" when she incorrectly claimed that no one would pay more than £2,500 on their energy bills.
In a round of radio interviews defending her catastrophic mini-Budget, Ms Truss twice said that she was “making sure that nobody is paying fuel bills of more than £2,500”.
But the £2,500 figure is not a hard ceiling - it's the average yearly gas and electricity bill under the Government's two-year cap on unit prices.
People who use more will pay more, as the price of each unit of electricity or gas is capped, rather than the overall bill.
The fact-checking charity Full Fact urged her to correct her mistake to ensure Brits don't misunderstand - and end up with sky-high bills.
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)LBC presenter Nick Ferrari confronted the PM over why she had made the claim during an interview.
Ms Truss replied: "I was talking about a typical bill. What we are actually doing is capping it per unit of energy and that number I gave was for the typical household."
Pressed again, she said: "I'm sorry I wasn't more specific."
Asked if she accepted she had got it wrong, Ms Truss said: "I should have been more specific."
Pressed again to admit she was wrong, she said: "I agree, I should have been more specific."
Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has been warning about misunderstandings over the freeze.
He tweeted last week: “The reason it is so important NOT to communicate that there is a £2,500 cap. Is it risks some people, possibly vulnerable elderly people, thinking they can keep the heat on max all winter, and they won't pay more than a certain amount.”
Ms Truss has endured a turbulent few days at the annual Tory conference in Birmingham, where she was forced into a U-turn over the 45p income tax rate.
She is now facing a fresh revolt after refusing to rule out a return to austerity or say whether benefits will be increased in line with soaring inflation.
