Richard Foord urges government to take 'drastic action' in the face of £3,549 energy bills

By Richard Foord

Last week it was announced that the energy price cap will rise to £3,549 this autumn. This is a massive increase of roughly 80% and will be a hammerblow to those already struggling to make ends meet.

I think many of us swallowed hard back in April when the price cap rose to a sum just shy of £2,000. Now - with energy bills becoming prohibitively expensive - some people in Honiton won't be swallowing much at all.

So many people from across our part of Devon have been in touch with me to tell me how concerned they are about how they will cope with this huge rise in bills. Yet this summer, this zombie Government run by the Conservatives has stalled in the face of a national emergency.

We know that the emergency is caused partly by the war in Ukraine. Given that the conflict is having such a profound effect on the global economy, I have recently joined the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ukraine to find out more about the situation and the impact it is having around the world on prices.

We know that inflation is worse in the UK than it is in any other of the G7 group of countries of advanced economies, so this crisis is not something that can be simply blamed on other countries' governments.

Countless families and pensioners across East Devon are already struggling. Even the boss of OFGEM says the Prime Minister will "need to act urgently", highlighting that people need help now and cannot afford to wait weeks for a new Conservative leader to act. 

We have relied for a long time on the incredible work of organisations like the Churches Housing Action Team (CHAT) and the generosity of all the wonderful people in our area who contribute to this and similar charities, but we cannot lean on them if the scale of this crisis is going to exceed anything we have seen before.

The Government must take drastic action to avoid families going under. They must cancel the October energy price rise outright, saving households in our area more than £1,850 each, and expand the support available to the most vulnerable people.

Liberal Democrats are calling for additional targeted support for vulnerable people and low-income households. By doubling the Warm Homes Discount, extending it to all those who receive Pension Credit and investing in home insulation for customers who face fuel poverty we can ensure everyone can afford to stay warm this winter.

I also want to see additional support for those who live off-grid and are therefore more susceptible to rises in the price of heating oil. By capping the cost, just as we do with other forms of energy, we can protect the thousands of people who - by no fault of their own - are being forgotten about in this crisis.

There is also an additional benefit of investing heavily in insulation. By ensuring heat is not lost from our homes we can cut back on how often we turn the heating on, helping address the climate crisis while also keeping bills down.

This is an emergency, and without action many will simply be unable to pay their bills. The Government must step in now to help families and pensioners across Devon by cancelling the planned rise in energy bills this October.

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Speaker Hoyle's visit to Honiton Allhallows by Richard Foord MP