ED MILIBAND: 'Reform and Tories will put UK at Putin's mercy over energy'

This government was elected to help families with the cost of living and that is what we are determined to do. So we know any increase to energy billswill be a concern for families across the country.

What is keeping bills high is that wholesale gas prices are still 75% higher than before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. That is the fossil fuel penalty being paid by families, businesses and our economy. The simple fact is that the only way to get energy billsdown for good is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and those markets controlled by petrostates and dictators.

That’s why this government’s mission is to take back control with clean homegrown power. Every solar panel put on a roof, every wind turbine that is constructed, every nuclear power decision we make, gets us more homegrown clean energy we control.

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And as we deliver this mission to bring down bills for good, we will take every decision we can to stand up for families and help cut costs. This winter, thanks to the decisions made by this government, almost three million more families will get £150 off their bills through the Warm Home Discount, a total of six million in all.

That’s just the start. Later on this year, our Warm Homes Plan will show how we can help upgrade five million homes across the country and cut bills. That includes new rights for renters, in council homes and private homes, so that there need to be proper standards of energy efficiency, benefitting millions.

Alongside this, Great British Energy is helping to cut the energy bills of 200 local schools and 200 hospitals, putting solar panels on their rooftops, freeing up money for frontline services.

What a contrast with our opponents. Reform, and the Conservatives both want to delay or cancel our plans for clean power, leaving Britain exposed to the very same fossil fuels that caused the cost of living crisis in the first place, leaving us at the mercy of dictators like Putin.

And now Reform want to give the green light to fracking - a move which would not take a single penny off bills and is opposed by people across Britain.

This is a Government that is fighting at every step to make things easier for working people. That’s why we’ve raised the minimum wage, extended the £3 bus fare cap, expanded free school meals to over half a million more children, and are rolling out free breakfast clubs for every child in the country through our Plan for Change.

Every day we will fight for you, making the decisions to help working people . On energy bills and energy security, we are getting on with the job, and we will not stop until we have achieved our mission.