The Government’s cap on energy prices will take effect at the start of next month despite a 10-day mourning period which will pause most activity in Westminster.
Liz Truss’s new administration is likely to publish further details of the energy support package for households and businesses in the coming days in order to reassure people that they will not face soaring costs this winter.
But ministers do not expect they will have to recall Parliament next week in order to push through emergency legislation related to the package.
The Government will fall largely silent during the mourning period leading up to the late Queen’s state funeral. Whitehall departments will make no policy announcements and take no major decisions unless there is an emergency.
Ms Truss has had to scrap plans for a policy blitz to mark her first full week as Prime Minister, which would have seen her deputy Thérèse Coffey announce plans to boost the health service and care sector in order to reduce post-pandemic backlogs.
But Downing Street insisted that delivery of the new price cap, announced hours before the Queen’s death was confirmed, would not be interrupted.
A spokesman said: “The public should be reassured that the energy price guarantee will be in place for households from 1 October as planned.
“We are implementing that guarantee initially through private contracts with suppliers rather than through legislation, so this mourning period does not impact that introduction.”
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All households in Great Britain will have their gas and electricity bills capped only slightly above their current level – amounting to £2,500 a year for average energy usage, with a previously announced £400 discount still applying.
A number of details of the package, including how an equivalent level of help for businesses will be delivered; the arrangements for Northern Ireland; and a new scheme to reduce payments to some electricity generators, are yet to be determined.
They may be announced during the mourning period to provide reassurance as quickly as possible.
The Downing Street spokesman said: “We will be working with the Speaker to introduce any legislation that is required as soon as possible after the mourning period concludes.”
The Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is scheduled to make a fiscal statement in the days following the state funeral.
A scientific report on fracking which was submitted to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in early July but has not yet been published will be delayed until after the mourning period.
It was used to justify the decision to end the ban on drilling for shale gas, although it is understood to conclude that more evidence is needed on the effects of fracking.
It is unclear whether Ms Truss will continue with plans to travel to the US in the next fortnight to speak at the UN General Assembly.