Starmer says his radical plan to freeze energy bills is needed to cut inflation
Keir Starmer has said Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills, funded in part by an expanded windfall tax, is the radical approach needed to help households and reduce inflation, contrasting it with the inaction of a “lame duck” government.
In a round of media interviews on Monday morning intended to seize the initiative on the crisis, the Labour leader rejected the idea he had been too slow to propose a solution, given he was on holiday last week.
Under the proposals, the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning a planned 80% rise in October, taking the average household bill to about £3,600, would not happen.
Quizzed on why he was spending close to £30bn on a scheme that also assisted better-off people, Starmer said that while some other targeted measures would remain in place, his was the best overall approach.
“We asked ourselves: do we want a plan that allows those prices to go up, causes that anxiety, and then rebates some people after the event, but doesn’t do anything about inflation, or do we want to be more radical, more bold, more ambitious?” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“One of the benefits of our proposal is that it brings inflation down, which benefits everybody, but particularly those who are most vulnerable, and those who are least well off.
“So I’m not going to apologise for a scheme which is comprehensive, which is costed, which has the double benefit of eliminating those price rises, and which is an effective measure against inflation.”
Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies economic thinktank, has queried whether Labour’s plan would help greatly with inflation, saying the rate would go up again once the energy subsidy ended.
Quizzed about this in another interview, with
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