'The government has no plan' - Doncaster MP Ed Miliband explains how action could be taken on soaring energy bills

Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband has said Labour’s plans in tackling rising energy bills would mean over 50,000 households in the borough would save money.
Doncaster North MP Ed MilibandDoncaster North MP Ed Miliband
Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband

Mr Miliband said his party would ‘increase and expand’ the Warm Homes Discount targeting extra support to the ‘squeezed middle’, pensioners and more low earners.

He also said Labour would introduce a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas firms who are making ‘record profits’ to pay for the measures and cut VAT on energy bills.

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As a result, some households would save up £600 a year, Mr Miliband said.

As part of the extended Warm Homes Discount under a Labour administration, 19,932 households in Doncaster Central, 18,010 in Doncaster North and 14,747 in Don Valley would benefit from lower bills.

Mr Miliband also said lower bills would ‘accelerate home-grown renewables and new nuclear power’ as well as retrofitting 19 million homes, if Labour were in power.

It comes as inflation rose to 5.4 per cent in December which has been driven by a rise in price for food and clothes.

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The energy cap which stops prices going over a certain threshold is also set to be lifted in April as well as a planned rise in National Insurance.The energy price cap is the maximum amount a utility firm can charge a customer per year for the amount of energy they use, preventing them from simply passing on cost increases to the consumer.

The Doncaster North MP called on the government to lay down concrete plans to tackle rising energy bills but said they ‘don’t know what to do’.

Mr Miliband said: “This is a crisis that people are facing – we’re going to see lots more families driven into fuel poverty. More will face a choice of heating or eating.

“Families and businesses are facing an energy price crisis because a decade of failed Conservative energy policy has left us deeply vulnerable as a country.

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“We’ve put forward a fully costed plan that would help millions of families across the country by increasing the Warm Homes Discount, installing a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas companies and cutting VAT on energy bills.

“The Warm Homes Discount is only accessible by about two million people and it’s a bit random on how that is given out but our plans would help nine million people. This will help 18,000 homes in my constituency alone.

“The government is in a complete mess with what’s going on surrounding the Prime Minister and the investigations – they are in complete paralysis – they don’t know what to do.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is ‘constantly meeting’ with Chancellor Rishi Sunak about a plan of action.