This is when PM Liz Truss will make her big announcement on energy bills and this is what the Harrogate Advertiser says

It is expected that the PM's energy plan, which Liz Truss herself will unveil in the House of Commons at some point after 11.15am, will freeze average bills at a level of about £2,500 by setting a cap on the price of a unit of energy.

Opposition parties are already warning the plan to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis without taxing energy firms could land the nation's tax payers with debt for decades.

In normal times The Harrogate Advertiser - as the voice of the town since 1836 - doesn't enter the fray over national issues.

But these are far from normal times.

The cost of living crisis is a national emergency or threatens to be unless the world changes overnight or the Government steps up fully to the plate.

This newspaper joins its sister titles in National World today in offering the best of luck to new Prime Minister Liz Truss who faces the biggest challenge any leader of this nation has faced in a generation or more.

As the fourth different person at Number 10 in just six years under the Conservative administration, it's in all of our interests that she takes the crucial decisions required to pull this country away from the precipice.

Soaring energy bills and eye-watering inflation not only threaten every family in the land but pose a life and death challenge to many of our smallest businesses and pubs, too, on whom our communities and many of our jobs depend.

Whether affluent or poor, young or old, there will be no escaping the triple storm of rising energy bills, soaring inflation and the threat of recession.

So we are breaking the habit of a newspaper’s lifetime by seeking to spell out some key changes that we think should be top of Ms Truss's To Do list.In this mission we are not alone.It feels like the whole town is calling for action – from Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) to owners of popular bars and the Harrogate branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to the town’s MP and local politicians.

Five ideas to transform Britain’s cost of living crisis

1 Offer real support to households of energy bills: We urge Liz Truss to act quickly on on gas and electricity prices with an energy bills freeze to ensure people can heat their homes and feed their families in the looming winter.

2 Support with energy bills for businesses: Set up an energy price cap for businesses for the first time or introduce a temporary cut in VAT to reduce their energy costs.

3 Give support for businesses to survive high inflation and the predicted economic slowdown:

Introduce Covid-style support by introducing Government Emergency Energy Grant for small and medium businesses.

Temporarily reverse April's rise increase in National Insurance and rise in VAT.

Review businesses rates.Address the recruitment crisis by reforming the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) to help fill staffing vacancies and bring down wage pressures.

4 Future proof the energy market against further shocks: Give Ofgem to more power to strengthen regulation of the energy market for businesses.

5 Future-proof our health services and social care: If the days of austerity launched 12 years ago are over, as the Government has said, it’s time to rebuild Britain’s beleaguered public sector and alleviate the long-standing financial cuts and struggles of local councils.

We acknowledge that, at first sight all of the above ideas may seem to raise political questions.

But the Covid pandemic revealed Britain’s underlying weaknesses and the cost of living crisis threatens to do the same but worse.

The temptation is to see this crisis as a short-term phenomenon but this nation has deep-seated problems.

Our suggestions reflect what we are hearing in Harrogate’s bars and businesses, charities and cafes.

It’s a crisis which goes beyond politics – or ought to, at least.

If ever real action was needed, it is now.