LIZ Truss’s authority is dangling by a thread after her new Chancellor ripped up her botched economic strategy – with promised two-year universal help for energy bills to now end in April.

Citizens Advice Scotland has warned that the energy price cap returning in April will be "frightening for consumers who are facing impossible spending choices".

The Prime Minister has faced calls to resign from within her own Tory party as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt signalled humiliation for Ms Truss by reversing “almost all” of the tax policies brought forward "in lockstep" with Kwasi Kwarteng, which cost him his job.

Despite Ms Truss telling MPs last week that no spending cuts will be brought forward, Mr Hunt warned that “there will be more difficult decisions” on tax and spending ahead, confirming that “some areas of spending will need to be cut”.

Mr Hunt confirmed that all tax measures announced in the mini-budget, which sent the value of the pound plummeting, will be scrapped except the stamp duty changes for England and the reversal of the National Insurance contributions rise.

The planned cut to the income tax basic rate in England will be revered “indefinitely”, he said.

Ms Truss refused to turn up to answer an urgent question from Sir Keir Starmer on the economic turmoil, instead sending her Tory leadership rival Penny Mordaunt in her role as leader of the House of Commons.

But in a further humiliating step, Ms Mordaunt was forced to confirm the Prime Minister was “not hiding under a desk”, insisting that Ms Truss was “detained on urgent business”.

A despondent-looking Prime Minister sat next to Mr Hunt in the Commons as he gave his statement, leaving after around 30 minutes.

Mr Hunt confirmed that Ms Truss’s government’s energy support package, which had been promised to last for two years, will now only remain universal until April.

He said: “This is a landmark policy supporting millions of people through a difficult winter. And today I want to confirm that the support we are providing between now and April next year will not change.

“But beyond that, the Prime Minister and I have agreed it would not be responsible to continue exposing public finances to unlimited volatility in international gas prices.”

Mr Hunt announced a “Treasury-led review into how we support energy bills beyond April next year”.

He added: “The objective is to design a new approach that will cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned, whilst ensuring enough support for those in need.

“Any support for businesses will be targeted to those most affected and the new approach will better incentivise energy efficiency.”

But Citizens Advice Scotland chief executive, Derek Mitchell, has warned that “uncertainty around the future of the energy price guarantee will be frightening for consumers who are facing impossible spending choices”.

He added: “The CAB network is already seeing a huge demand for advice around the cost of living, energy bills and food insecurity. This is the last thing they needed to hear.

“We need to ensure now that additional support for vulnerable consumers is delivered as soon as possible. Meanwhile anyone struggling with the cost of living can seek advice from the Citizens Advice network.”

Mr Hunt said that “the most important objective for our country right now is stability”.

He added: “There will be more difficult decisions I'm afraid on both tax and spending as we deliver our commitment to get debt falling as a share of the economy over the medium term.

“All departments will need to redouble their efforts to find savings and some areas of spending will need to be cut. But as I promised at the weekend, our priority in making the difficult decisions that lie ahead will always be the most vulnerable.

“And I remain extremely confident about the UK’s long term economic prospects as we deliver our mission to go for growth. But growth requires confidence and stability.”

Nicola Sturgeon criticised the Conservatives for overseeing a “self-inflicted crisis” as she accused the Prime Minister of acting "without a shred of credibility".

the First Minister said that “to say this is a UK Government and a Prime Minister without a shred of credibility is an under-statement”.

She added: “Indeed, it is perhaps a sign of how badly broken UK politics is that the Prime Minister’s resignation has not already been tendered.

“It will also be galling, I think, that the one measure the Prime Minister has repeatedly cited to effectively justify the market turmoil of recent weeks, the energy price cap, has also now been curtailed – leaving many people and possibly many businesses without the support with energy bills that they were, before today, expecting.

“There’s no doubt this is a self-inflicted crisis for Liz Truss and it is humiliating in quite an unprecedented way in terms of the climbdown.

“I think the sooner this Prime Minister and indeed this entire government departs office, the better that will be for everyone.”

Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves stressed the “damage has been done” despite the “humiliating U-turns”.

She added: “This is a Tory crisis made in Downing Street, but ordinary working people are paying the price.

“All that is left after these humiliating U-turns are higher mortgages for working people and higher bonuses for bankers. And their climb-down on energy support begs the question yet again – why won’t they extend a windfall tax on energy producers to help foot the bill?”

Mr Hunt later said that “nothing is off the table”, when further pressed over a windfall tax, adding that he is “not against the principle of taxing profits that are genuine windfalls”.

Ms Reeves added that the Prime Minister has “no authority, no credibility, no plan for growth”.

She said: “It is clear for all to see – the people who caused the chaos cannot be the people to fix the chaos. They are out of ideas, out of touch and out of time.”

The shadow chancellor claimed that “the survival of this Government depends on smashing to smithereens” everything Ms Truss stands for, adding her position is “absurd”.

Ms Reeves added: “The Prime Minister is barely in office, and she is certainly not in power. Only five days ago she said at Prime Minister’s Questions there would be ‘absolutely’ no public spending reductions.

“But after what we heard from the Chancellor today, every single public service is again at risk from the Conservatives, from our NHS nurses to our schools and to our servicemen and women, with the country paying the price for their incompetence.”