‘The Government Must act now to Bring Down Bills – and Ready our Communities for the Future’ 

Today, families across the UK woke up to the news that their energy bills could rise by 10% this winter, as Ofgem lifts the cap on energy prices.

For many, this hike will be disastrous – already, parents are choosing between putting food on the table and heating their homes; older people are facing illness because they’re scared to put the heating on. The prospect of having to find even more money to spend on energy will be a source of real worry and distress. 

This is an issue that Keir Starmer promised to tackle if elected, and nearly 50 days into his premiership we have seen some promising signs – but not on the scale required by the challenges we face.

If GB Energy does reduce bills, as promised, this will be a welcome step forward – but we need more immediate measures, too.

Maintaining the winter fuel payment for all pensioners, for example, would mean that they know they will be able to afford to keep warm this winter. The government’s current position on winter fuel payment will cause real suffering for many pensioners who are on low incomes but just above the means-tested cut-off.

We also need to see a huge programme of Government-backed, council-delivered home insulation starting immediately to help people keep their bills down for good.

Unfortunately, this is one of the measures that fell victim to Starmer’s U-turn on his pledge to invest £28 billion in green infrastructure – initially, Labour were pledging to insulate 19 million homes over a decade, but this was slashed to just five million homes over the next five years.

This short-sighted concession to Conservative attacks will hit voters in the pocket: according to Citizens Advice, upgrading Great Britain’s inefficient homes would save consumers £24 billion on their energy bills by 2030.

This is just one of the ways in which Labour’s timidity on tackling the climate and economic crises we face is holding them back from making changes that would benefit all of us – and help us prepare for the challenges we know are to come.

There are huge rewards to be reaped by taking bold, proactive steps – such as bringing water and energy back into public hands, so that bills come down, and the bills we do pay go back into improving services instead of into the pockets of shareholders. Or making solar panels compulsory on all new suitable homes, which would increase the value of homes as well as keeping energy costs low. 

We need to be realistic, too, about how our homes and communities will need to adapt in the face of the changing climate. Not only are our homes hard to heat in cold weather, they’re also poorly built for keeping cool in summer – and with record-breaking temperatures becoming more common, ensuring our homes can deal with this will be vital to protecting our health in the years to come.

Today, fire chiefs have called for more support from the government in dealing with extreme weather like flooding and wildfires – another reminder that our government needs to be forward-thinking and realistic about making our communities resilient in the years ahead. 

It’s not good enough for Labour, as they are doing this morning, to stand back and express concern at soaring energy bills, blaming it on their predecessors.

It’s the job of government to roll up their sleeves and get to grips with the issues which are causing distress and hardship to people across the country – and that means taking bold decisions now which will benefit us in the long run.

At the upcoming budget, Rachel Reeves has the opportunity to invest big in home insulation, green infrastructure, and bringing energy and water back into public hands – I hope she is able to show the leadership required to do so.

Carla Denyer is the Green MP for Bristol Central