Something pre-occupying many of us recently has been the announcement that the energy price cap will soar to £3,549 in October.  Inevitably the prospect of this, with a zombie Tory Government seemingly incapable of taking any action, will have many families worried sick and leave many facing drastic choices.

The government now face an urgent choice. Carry on letting the very oil and gas companies that are directly benefitting from this crisis make huge, unearned profits whilst families suffer with rising bills. Or do something about it.

Labour would stop the energy price cap rising this Winter. No ifs no buts. That means you won’t pay a penny more this winter. Our fully funded plans involve making the oil and gas companies pay their fair share.

And we would solve the energy crisis for good. We’d Insulate every home that needs it to get bills down. And we’d get off foreign gas – by investing in home-grown renewables for cheaper bills and energy independence.

We cannot afford to wait. That is why in my view Parliament should be urgently recalled so they can freeze the energy price cap now ahead of winter.

The Labour alternative will raise more revenue from the oil and gas producers making record profits thanks to rising global wholesale prices. We’ll do that by closing the loophole in the Energy Profits Levy which gives billions back in allowances to the oil and gas producers.

We would use the already-pledged £14bn of non-targeted funding to prevent bills from rising, giving people the security to plan ahead.

Finally, by keeping energy bills down, we’ll reduce the rate of inflation, leading to a reduction in government debt interest payments.

The Warm Homes Plan and investment in sustainable British energy would be funded from Labour’s Climate Investment Pledge, a plan to tackle the climate crisis, strengthen our energy security, create good jobs in new industries, and cut bills for good.

This is the solution and it is staring the Government in the face, we can only hope for everyone’s sake that they have the sense to take this opportunity.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council