Doncaster MP Ed Miliband: ‘Labour’s energy bills plan will save £1,000 a year’

Labour’s £29bn plan announced on Monday, would prevent the energy price cap rising through the winter, paid for by extra tax from oil and gas giants ‘who are making eye-watering profits’.

The emergency package, announced by party leader Sir Keir Starmer, said it would reduce energy demand and lower bills in the longer term by insulating 19 million homes across the country over the next decade through Labour’s ‘Warm Homes Plan’.

The party says they urged the government to implement this plan a year ago. Labour say If they’d acted, they could have insulated two million of the coldest homes by this winter – ‘saving the typical household an additional £1,000’ every year on their energy bills.

Sir Keir said freezing the price cap will bring inflation down by four per cent, making future interest rate rises less likely and easing the burden on households and businesses.

Miliband said he now receives daily emails from constituents about the cost of living crisis and called another rise in energy bills as a ‘national emergency’.

Miliband, who is also Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero, said: ““In Yorkshire and the Humber it’s estimated that 58.5 per cent of households will fall into fuel poverty. Labour’s call for radical action to freeze prices this winter is bold, right and essential to protect people in Doncaster.“In January, Labour called for a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants to support families with their bills.

“Our fully-funded plan, including getting rid of the multi-billion pound oil and gas loophole in the windfall tax introduced by the Tories, will save households an average of £1,000 on their bills. Alongside this, Labour will get bills down for the long-term – above all, by getting off our reliance on expensive fossil fuels.”

The Treasury is working up ideas for how the new prime minister could provide more help with living costs.

But the two contenders for the job, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, have indicated they are not keen on extending the windfall tax on oil and gas companies – or freezing the price cap.

Plans are in place to give people £400 off their energy bills, plus a £650 cost-of-living payment for vulnerable households.

But outgoing PM Boris Johnson has admitted this isn’t enough.