Thirteen years of failed Conservative energy policy has left
Britain as the most exposed major economy in the world to rising
energy prices, recent data from the Government has confirmed.
According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s
domestic energy price comparison statistics, in 2021 before
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices spiralling
further, the UK had the highest average domestic electricity
price of the countries assessed by the International Energy
Agency.
This data reveals the extent to which thirteen years of failed
Conservative energy policy has left British households and
businesses exposed and helps explain why the UK has been the
country worst affected by Vladimir Putin's manipulation of
international energy markets in Western Europe, with households,
businesses, and government having to spend tens of billions on
gas in the last 18 months alone.
For example, the Conservative's disastrous ban on onshore wind,
implemented in 2015, has raised bills by £180 a year for every
family in England, due to the fact that the UK has had to use
more expensive fossil fuels instead. Since the invasion began,
Ukraine has completed more onshore wind turbines than England due
to the ban.
Similarly, the coalition government cut energy efficiency
programmes, causing insulation rates to fall by 92 per cent and
leaving 9 million more families to pay over £1000 more in energy
bills last winter as a result. Likewise, in solar, the cheapest,
cleanest energy available to us, the Tory government’s decision
to cut the Feed-in Tariff crashed the industry, meaning many more
homes and businesses had not installed the solar power that could
have kept bills low during the crisis. And on nuclear, after 13
years in power, the Tories are still nowhere near completion of a
single new nuclear plant, robbing us of reliable, clean power.
The analysis comes on the back of the growing concern from
leading businesses, investors, civil society, and even leading
Conservative MPs that the government's inconsistency in net zero
is undermining British industry against international
competitors, and risks leaving the country over vulnerable to
future energy price shocks.
Last month, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Fiscal Risks
Report warned that failure to transition off gas could leave the
UK open to future shocks which would cost double the total
investment required to get to net zero, adding 13% of GDP to
public debt, whilst stoking inflation and undermining economic
growth.
Labour has set out plans to cut energy bills once and for all,
with a mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030,
and our Warm Homes plan, which taken together will cut energy
bills permanently by up to £1,400 for every family. As well as
cutting bills, the plans will create a new generation of good
jobs across the country, give the UK real energy security,
insulating us from future shocks, and tackle the climate crisis -
the biggest long term threat we face.
MP, Shadow Climate Change
and Net Zero minister, said:
"Every family in the country is paying the price in higher energy
bills because thirteen years of failed Conservative energy policy
have left us vulnerable. They failed to prepare and to protect
Britain - and it is families and businesses that have paid the
price.
Even before Putin’s invasion, over a decade of Tory decisions -
from banning onshore wind, to cutting insulation and solar, and
stalling nuclear, meant UK households were facing the highest
bills of any major economy. This country cannot afford another
Tory government.
Only Labour has a plan to cut energy bills once and for all, with
our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030,
and our Warm Homes plan, which taken together will cut energy
bills permanently by up to £1,400 for every family - creating
jobs, strengthening our energy security, and tackling the climate
crisis along the way."
Ends
Notes
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero International
domestic energy prices data
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-domestic-energy-prices
https://labour.org.uk/missions/making-britain-a-clean-energy-superpower/
