First things first: the Queen’s death could never have come at a good time. It is such a momentous event it would always have brought the nation to a relative standstill, whenever it happened.

As the trickle of supermarkets announcing plans to close their stores next Monday became a flood, it’s clear there is huge pressure on companies to be seen to do the right thing as the nation pays its respects, which applies also to those in government.

However, there is a growing sense of frustration in the industry that, as huge uncertainty threatens the viability of thousands of businesses, leaders in Westminster have seemingly gone missing.

The timing has meant a communications shutdown was effectively imposed within hours of the announcement of one of the biggest bailouts of industry – and households – in history.

Liz Truss’s confirmation that the government would cap business energy bills for six months was widely seen as a vital intervention, despite concerns over where the funding will come from.

But the cruel twist of fate means the detail that was expected to be released over the following days, of how the scheme would work, have been swallowed up in a black hole of silence.

Truss and her new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are due to set out more details of the financial package in a fiscal announcement now not likely to take place until the end of next week – after which government is due to be wound up for the party conference season.

In the meantime, businesses, who have already had to wait through the Tory leadership election and the twilight zone of Boris Johnson’s zombie government, are, as one expert told The Grocer this week, living in “limbo land”.

Yet if football matches, concerts and other big events temporarily cancelled out of respect for the Queen are now either up and running again, or at least being planned, it is frankly ridiculous that industry can be kept in the dark about how the bailout is going to work.

Experts’ best guess is that under the cap, if it does reflect the domestic bills situation as promised, businesses will end up with energy bills capped somewhere in the region of 40p/kilowatt hour.

That is eye-watering enough, but pales into insignificance compared to the changes of between 70p-90p/kilowatt hour which are being widely reported.

This will be the difference between businesses being able to survive the winter or not. It is not the sort of finer detail that can wait until a more convenient time.

Meanwhile, with winter fast approaching, there is also exasperation about the government’s apparent reluctance to rule out energy rationing for the food and drink supply chain – despite warnings of disastrous consequences should we go back to the (literally) dark days of the 1970s three-day weeks.

And you don’t have to go back so far in time to find examples of how lack of planning has caused damaging uncertainty for businesses, with all the economic harm it inevitably brings with it.

Once the Truss government does finally get up and running, it must surely prioritise a long-term energy and business strategy which will learn the lessons of recent months and years.

And a key part of that must be to ensure the vital food and drink supply chain is no longer such a hostage to fortune.

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