Boris Johnson criticised over his energy-saving kettle comments

‘A clear plan to take bills down from £3,549 to £3,539’

(PA Wire)

People have taken to social media to criticise outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson for appearing to suggest that buying a £20 kettle could save Britons £10 on their electricity bills over the next 12 months.

Speaking on the future of energy at Sizewell, in Suffolk on Thursday (1 September), Johnson said: “If you have an old kettle which takes ages to boil, it may cost you £20 to replace it – but if you get a new one, you’ll save £10 a year every year on your electricity bill.”

He used the analogy in support of the decision to invest £700m of public money in the Sizewell C nuclear power station project.

But Twitter users were quick to pick up on the suggestion of saving money by buying a new kettle, and many slammed the PM’s choice of analogy against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis that has left many wondering how they will pay their energy bills.

One said: “He’s now outright taking the mickey of those drowning in costs, as he comes back home from his luxury traveling around Europe.”

Another user said: “Boris Johnson says we should spend £20 on a new kettle which will shave a tenner off our energy bills, even now as the UK crumbles, as people beg, steal, borrow to survive (because of his party) it’s one big joke.”

A third said: “Sooooo spend £20 to save a tenner this year? Never mind the fact that it takes exactly the same amount of energy to boil water slowly as it does to boil it quickly.”

Others called the advice “out of touch” and one person said they were “lost for words”.

“This is the best the prime minister of this country can come up with?” one person questioned.

“In his final major speech as PM, Johnson suggests that people spend £20 on a new kettle to save £10 a year on electricity,” another person added.

“A clear plan to take bills down from £3,549 to £3,539.”

Johnson is expected to step down as prime minister on Monday 5 September, when either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will take the role after being voted leader of the Conservative Party.

Both Johnson and the new prime minister are expected to have separate audiences with the Queen in Balmoral on Tuesday (6 September), which will mark the first time the Queen has received a new prime minister in Scotland.

This article was amended on 8 September 2022 to make it clear that the PM used the kettle analogy to explain the decision to invest in Sizewell C, and did not explicitly suggest that people should buy a new kettle to save money on electricity bills.