PM claims families won't struggle over energy bills this winter as 'problems are short term'

Watch: PM says families will not struggle this winter because energy issues are 'short term'

Like most of us, the prime minister hasn’t been on a major overseas trip for a long time, so it’s pretty unfortunate that this one has coincided with a real crisis back home.

With energy companies folding, fuel bills going up and fears that many families will really struggle this winter, Boris Johnson didn’t have much reassurance to offer those worried about how they are going to manage.

He told me the issue was a "short-term" problem caused by the world economy waking up after a long time in suspended animation.

Warming to the theme of this trip, he stressed how it showed the need for the UK to move away from hydrocarbons into green energy.

Mr Johnson said the world now must decide "whether it wants to grow up or not, to make a crucial change or not", as he looked ahead to Cop 26 (2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference) which will be held in Glasgow later this year.

People "cannot continue trashing the planet in the way that we are", he said, adding how he had a "passionate debate" with developing countries about how to tackle climate change.

PM - This is the moment where the world must decide if it wants to grow up:

He said they were "pointing the finger at us and saying 'you guys put that carbon in the atmosphere, you've created the problem, we need you to help us to sort it out'."

These may be problems facing world leaders, but on concrete measures he is taking right now to help struggling families, the prime minister was vague.

People shouldn’t be worried he told me, "we will do everything we can" to help in the short term. The trouble is people ARE worried.