PM expected to back loans for firms struggling with rising energy prices

Boris Johnson is expected to back plans to issue state-backed loans to assist glass, ceramic and paper manufacturers struggling to operate amid rising energy prices.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng submitted a formal proposal on Monday asking the Treasury to financially assist manufacturers in these fields.

According to the BBC, the prime minister is expected to back the plans, which could involve hundreds of millions in state-backed loans.

The government has recently expressed reluctance to prop up private companies.

The National Grid have said the UK faces a heightened risk of power blackouts over the winter as rising demand and supply gaps continue to wreak havoc across the energy market.
Last week industry leaders warned the government that factories across the country could stop production due to rising energy costs.

The director-general of the Confederation of Paper Industries Andrew Large Gareth Stace of UK Steel, and other leaders of energy-intensive industries met with business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday to discuss rising gas prices.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme after the meeting, Large explained how such shutdowns would be damaging to profits in the paper industry would be damaging for profitability, explaining: “Every minute that the machinery isn’t working, every minute that paper isn’t being produced is a damage to the profitability of the sector and a damage to the future investment potential and opportunities.”