Insulation vouchers for homeowners part of Rishi Sunak's £3bn green jobs drive

Homeowners will be given vouchers to pay for insulation and double glazing as part of a multibillion-pound job creation drive in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Rishi Sunak will announce on Wednesday.

The Chancellor will use his summer economic update to unveil a £3 billion scheme that he says will create thousands of new jobs and support "tens of thousands" more by stimulating demand for eco-friendly home improvements.

It came as Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, postponed a private meeting with Tory MPs after facing questions about whether he was acting in concert with Mr Sunak.

Mr Bailey had been due to make an almost unprecedented address to the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers hours after the Chancellor's Wednesday statement, but late on Monday night the Bank changed the date following questions about the timing.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak was warned that announcing plans on Wednesday for a "stamp duty holiday" in the Autumn Budget could "stagnate the market" until then.

One industry source said announcing such a move months before it took effect would be "insane", leading to speculation on Monday that the Chancellor could bring forward any such announcement to Wednesday.

Mr Sunak is expected to announce that private homeowners will receive vouchers for home improvements including loft, floor and wall insulation and the installation of heat pumps and double glazing.

The Chancellor hopes that ploughing money into home insulation and energy industry means firms will take on thousands of workers who have lost their jobs because of the virus crisis. Investment is also earmarked for re-training people to help them transition to new green roles.

The package will include £1 billion to make public buildings and social housing more energy efficient, and a source told The Telegraph that whether a home is eligible would be determined by its energy-efficiency rating.

The Conservative manifesto pledged to deliver two million new high-quality jobs in clean growth over 10 years, including by investing in carbon capture technology and offshore wind, as well as £2.5 billion over five years for home upgrade grants.

In addition to the £3 billion package, Mr Sunak will announce 5,000 new jobs through a £40 million "Green Jobs Challenge Fund", which will support environmental charities and local authorities to improve England's landscapes through schemes including planting trees and cleaning up rivers.

The Bank of England and the Treasury had insisted Mr Bailey's decision to address Tory MPs on the same day as the announcement was a "coincidence" and had not been requested by the Chancellor.

Some Tory backbenchers suggested the Treasury and the Bank were "working closely together" and that the Bank wanted to be "helpful" to the Chancellor, raising questions about the independence of the Governor.

After reports of the meeting by The Telegraph on Monday night, the Bank issued a statement saying that it would happen at a later date "due to the Chancellor's economic update".

A spokesman said Mr Bailey had wanted to make the appearance before the Tory MPs as part of his "regular engagement with political representatives" and "explain the Bank's current analysis on the economic impact of Covid-19 and listen to their views". He will also meet Labour MPs later this month.

The last Governor to address the 1922 Committee was the late Eddie George, who left the post in 2003.

Meanwhile, seven "Red Wall" Tory MPs called on Mr Sunak to usher in a "New Deal for the north" by making £1,000 re-training grants available to northern workers.

In a letter to the Chancellor, seen by The Telegraph, the MPs wrote: "As a fellow northern MP, you know well the issues we face: poor R&D [research and development] intensity, lacklustre connectivity, below-average productivity and fewer high-knowledge high-value added jobs."

The group, which makes up the parliamentary council of centre-right think tank the Northern Policy Foundation, is calling for a "northern skills bank" to deliver £1,000 grants to individuals who become unemployed, long-term furloughed or are looking to upskill.

They also suggest "bounce back opportunity zones", in which tax credits would be available for businesses in technology, clean energy and aerospace sectors.