Energy Price Freeze

Ian Swales Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

If that is the point that the right hon. Lady was trying to make, I accept that, but what Government Members heard was her dismissing £100 as not a great deal of money. We know that for hard-working people it is a great deal of money.

That is why we acted quickly to slash the over-generous subsidies that we inherited from the Labour party for solar and other technologies. The Labour party opposed those cuts. While we have been standing up for consumers, Labour has been sitting down with vested interests.

This debate has been dominated by the systematic demolition of Labour’s price freeze con. However, the most effective critique comes not from MPs, but from the smaller, independent generators that are keen to break into the market dominated by the big six and created by Labour. It is those new entrants that can provide real consumer choice again. They are entrepreneurs who want to compete for the business of our constituents with better prices, better offers and better service.

[Ian Swales (Redcar) (LD)]

Does the Minister think that the Opposition’s policy will make it more or less likely that the three independent power producers who want to build power stations in my constituency will invest?

[Gregory Barker]

The political risk and regulatory uncertainty that the Labour party is introducing into the energy sector is already raising the cost of capital. God forbid it was to form a Government—that would be a hammer blow to investment in the energy sector, a hammer blow to jobs and a hammer blow to consumer prices. It would spell long-term decline for the energy sector.

Labour’s lurch back to the 1970s would entrench the big six. Our vision for the UK energy market is one of fierce competition, dynamic new entrants and a far more decentralised, innovation-rich economy. Thanks to exciting new technologies, commercial, industrial, public sector, community and home generation are taking off all over the country. Although I disagree with many of the points made by the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion, I share her enthusiasm for community energy, which is really growing legs under this Government.