Labour Accused Of Deceit Over Pledge To Reduce Energy Bills
Labour’s election pledge to reduce household energy bills by £300 per year has been called a lie by the Tories
The Daily Mail had this to say two days ago, intersperced with my own comments:
Labour’s pledge to slash £300 off energy bills was branded ‘a lie’ last night.
The Tories went on the attack over the flagship promise after Ed Miliband admitted his ‘clean power’ revolution may not cut bills at all before the next election.
Well surprise surprise.
During the election campaign, Sir Keir Starmer, Energy Secretary Mr Miliband and other leading figures repeatedly claimed that their controversial plan to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030 would reduce household bills by £300.
Just about everyone else with any knowledge of the national grid said it will have exactly the opposite effect, and that is what we are seeing.
In a speech last month, Sir Keir said Labour would ‘tackle the root causes of the cost of living crisis and help families save up to £300 off their energy bills’.
Steve Reed, now the Environment Secretary, said the plans would ‘cut bills by an average of £300 a year every year’.
Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen.
But Downing Street refused to repeat the pledge yesterday. And Mr Miliband admitted that his radical plans could take years to deliver.
To add to the confusion, Sir Keir later appeared to confirm the figure, saying he stood by his manifesto pledges. But critics pointed out that the £300 figure was not included in the manifesto, despite being highlighted by Sir Keir during the campaign.
It wasn’t included because they knew it isn’t possible.
Asked whether energy bills would be lower by the time of the next election, Mr Miliband said volatile fossil fuel prices meant he could not give a guarantee. But he said the ‘key point’ was that switching to renewable energy meant bills would be ‘lower than they would otherwise be’.
Ah yes, playing with words.
‘Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills,’ he said.
Yes we will, and they will only change one way; up.
‘But there are lots of things going on here. So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control.’
Pressed by journalists as he visited a wind turbine manufacturer in Widnes, Cheshire, the Prime Minister said: ‘We certainly want to get those bills down in this Parliament.’
Tory energy spokesman Claire Coutinho said the admission showed Labour had lied to the public.
‘Labour MPs said to their voters that they would save them £300 off their energy bills,’ she added.
‘They said it on leaflets, in hustings, on local radio. They were lied to and so they lied in turn. Instead, Ed Miliband’s energy plans will heap huge costs on struggling families.’ The row came as Sir Keir and Mr Miliband outlined plans for a tie-up between the new Great British Energy company and the Crown Estate to install hundreds of giant offshore wind turbines around the coast.
The Government said it will invest £8.3 billion of capital in the partnership in the hope it will be a ‘catalyst’ for further investment from the private sector. But Sir Keir acknowledged it may take time for families to feel the effects.
The only effects we will see will be increasing energy bills, not reducing bills.
He said: ‘It will take time for this to develop – it will take time before we’re able to get the benefits of clean power. But that’s why we’re moving at pace.’
Officials said the tie-up could eventually produce enough electricity to power 20 million homes. But the Government has committed only to reaching ‘seabed lease stage’ by 2030, meaning much of it may not be producing electricity by that point.
Mr Miliband warned it would ‘take some time’ before GB Energy turns a profit, but suggested it would start producing returns before the next election.
But Ms Coutinho claimed GB Energy would involve ‘funnelling taxpayers’ money into reducing risk for multimillion-pound energy companies’, while the 2030 decarbonisation target would ‘hike bills and ramp up our dependence on batteries and cables from China’.
‘Now they’re saying bills may go up… but the truth is even worse,’ she added. ‘Labour’s plans for energy are going to mean huge costs for British families.’ Tory science spokesman Andrew Griffith said the push for green energy was already under way and described GB Energy as a ‘name-plating exercise’.
He added: ‘This looks like the most expensive summer job in history – £8 billion of taxpayers’ money to Ed Miliband to give him something to do.’
Sir Keir admitted there may be hold-ups if locals oppose plans to bring off-shore wind energy to the mainland through overground cables, which will require hundreds of miles of new pylons.
But he said the Government was prepared to take on NIMBYs – campaigners known for their ‘not in my back yard’ resistance to planning applications – regardless of whether those disputes were in Labour-supporting areas.
The PM said: ‘We will take the tough decisions to make this work. That will include decisions on planning.’
They are going to ‘take on the NIMBY’s’ and make ‘tough decisions’, which is another way of saying they will ignore objections and use what the Americans call ’eminent domain’, or ‘compulsory purchase’ as it is known here, to ride roughshod over objections as they march happily towards their goal of making electricity a luxury for the few who can afford it.
Labour also faced fresh questions about its attitude to North Sea oil after Mr Miliband acknowledged Britain would continue to need fossil fuels ‘for many years to come’.
If any future British government wishes to keep the lights on and prevent thousands dying from cold in unheated houses each winter, we will need ‘fossil fuels’ for ever.
But then again, the globalists who control just about every government, have made no secret of the fact they want a massive population reduction, so thousands of deaths every winter is something they would not object to.
See more here dailymail.co.uk
Bold emphasis added
Header image: Energy Pool
About the author: Andy Rowlands is a university graduate in space science and British Principia Scientific International researcher, writer and editor who co-edited the new climate science book, ‘The Sky Dragon Slayers: Victory Lap‘
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