Keir Starmer says Labour wouldn’t let people pay a penny more on their fuel bill this winter as party unveils plan to save typical family £1,000

Keir Starmer said today (Monday) that Labour “wouldn’t let people pay a penny more” on their winter fuel bills as he unveiled the party’s plan to address the Tory cost of living crisis.

The Labour leader said that the party’s plan to stop bills rising this winter would save the typical family £1,000 now, get energy costs under control for the future and help tackle inflation.

Labour’s fully-funded £29bn plan 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 Keir Starmer 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.

Labour originally urged the government to implement this plan a year ago. If they’d acted, they could have insulated 2 million of the coldest homes by this winter – saving the typical household an additional £1,000 every year on their energy bills.

Freezing the price cap will bring inflation down by 4%, making future interest rate rises less likely and easing the burden on households and businesses.

Further plans include a plan to secure our energy supply to make sure we’re protected against future shocks and build Britain’s energy independence.

Labour would stop bills rising now, and create sustainable energy for the future – helping people get through the winter while providing the foundations for a stronger, more secure economy.

Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“Britain’s cost of living crisis is getting worse, leaving people scared about how they’ll get through the winter. Labour’s plan to save households £1,000 this winter and invest in sustainable British energy to bring bills down in the long-term is a direct response to the national economic emergency that is leaving families fearing for the future.

“We’ve had 12 years of Tory government that has failed to prepare and refused to invest, leaving bills higher and our country less secure. This is a national emergency. It needs strong leadership and urgent action.

“Labour’s fully-funded plan would fix the problems immediately and for the future – helping people get through the winter while providing the foundations for a stronger, more secure economy. Only Labour can give Britain the fresh start it needs.”

Notes

Cost

Stopping energy bills from rising is a fully-funded measure, with a total cost of £29bn. That will cover:

• a freeze in energy bills for all domestic energy customers
• support for customers not protected by the price cap
• making sure the price people on prepayments meters pay for energy is the same as people who pay their bills monthly.

Stopping energy bills from rising is a fully-funded measure. We’d pay for that in three ways:

First, with increased tax revenues from oil and gas producers. Labour would close the Government’s absurd loophole in their Energy profits levy, backdate the start date to when Labour first called for a windfall tax to January, and accounting for higher gas and oil prices, would raise £8bn.

Second, we would use the already-pledged £14bn of non-targeted funding to prevent bills from rising, giving people the security to plan ahead, rather than giving that money back in hand-outs later on.

Finally, by keeping energy bills down, we’ll reduce the rate of inflation, leading to a reduction in government debt interest payments of £7bn. That’s because higher inflation increases government expenditure – or ‘coupon payments’ – on gilts, which is how a significant proportion of government debt is held.