Labour’s pledge to slash £300 off energy bills was branded ‘a lie’ last night.
The Tories went on the attack over the flagship promise after Ed Miliband admitted his ‘clean power’ revolution may not cut bills at all before the next election.
During the election campaign, Sir Keir Starmer, Energy Secretary Mr Miliband and other leading figures repeatedly claimed that their controversial plan to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030 would reduce household bills by £300.
In a speech last month, Sir Keir said Labour would ‘tackle the root causes of the cost of living crisis and help families save up to £300 off their energy bills’.
Steve Reed, now the Environment Secretary, said the plans would ‘cut bills by an average of £300 a year every year’.
Sir Keir (pictured at Hutchinson Engineering on July 25) said Labour would ‘tackle the root causes of the cost of living crisis and help families save up to £300 off their energy bills’ last month
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But Downing Street refused to repeat the pledge yesterday. And Mr Miliband admitted that his radical plans could take years to deliver.
To add to the confusion, Sir Keir later appeared to confirm the figure, saying he stood by his manifesto pledges. But critics pointed out that the £300 figure was not included in the manifesto, despite being highlighted by Sir Keir during the campaign.
Asked whether energy bills would be lower by the time of the next election, Mr Miliband said volatile fossil fuel prices meant he could not give a guarantee. But he said the ‘key point’ was that switching to renewable energy meant bills would be ‘lower than they would otherwise be’.
‘Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills,’ he said.
‘But there are lots of things going on here. So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control.’
Pressed by journalists as he visited a wind turbine manufacturer in Widnes, Cheshire, the Prime Minister said: ‘We certainly want to get those bills down in this Parliament.’
Tory energy spokesman Claire Coutinho said the admission showed Labour had lied to the public.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband (pictured at a cabinet meeting on July 23) scrapped the ban on onshore wind and unblocked the production of cheap solar energy
However the Labour MPs controversial plan to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030 has been branded a ‘lie’ by Claire Coutinho (stock image of a wind farm)
Shadow energy security secretary, Claire Coutinho (pictured at Media City in Salford on July 4) previously dubbed Labour’s energy firm a ‘gimmick’ and said it would ‘end up costing families’
‘Labour MPs said to their voters that they would save them £300 off their energy bills,’ she added.
‘They said it on leaflets, in hustings, on local radio. They were lied to and so they lied in turn. Instead, Ed Miliband’s energy plans will heap huge costs on struggling families.’ The row came as Sir Keir and Mr Miliband outlined plans for a tie-up between the new Great British Energy company and the Crown Estate to install hundreds of giant offshore wind turbines around the coast.
The Government said it will invest £8.3 billion of capital in the partnership in the hope it will be a ‘catalyst’ for further investment from the private sector. But Sir Keir acknowledged it may take time for families to feel the effects.
He said: ‘It will take time for this to develop – it will take time before we’re able to get the benefits of clean power. But that’s why we’re moving at pace.’
Officials said the tie-up could eventually produce enough electricity to power 20 million homes. But the Government has committed only to reaching ‘seabed lease stage’ by 2030, meaning much of it may not be producing electricity by that point.
Mr Miliband warned it would ‘take some time’ before GB Energy turns a profit, but suggested it would start producing returns before the next election.
But Ms Coutinho claimed GB Energy would involve ‘funnelling taxpayers’ money into reducing risk for multimillion-pound energy companies’, while the 2030 decarbonisation target would ‘hike bills and ramp up our dependence on batteries and cables from China’.
‘Now they’re saying bills may go up… but the truth is even worse,’ she added. ‘Labour’s plans for energy are going to mean huge costs for British families.’ Tory science spokesman Andrew Griffith said the push for green energy was already under way and described GB Energy as a ‘name-plating exercise’.
The Government said it will invest £8.3 billion of capital in the partnership with the Crown Estate in the hope it will be a ‘catalyst’ for further investment from the private sector (pictured: Sir Keir visiting Beatrice wind farm)
However he acknowledged it may take time for families to feel the effects of their new ‘clean power’ revolution (stock image of a wind farm in Biggleswade)
He added: ‘This looks like the most expensive summer job in history – £8 billion of taxpayers’ money to Ed Miliband to give him something to do.’
Sir Keir admitted there may be hold-ups if locals oppose plans to bring off-shore wind energy to the mainland through overground cables, which will require hundreds of miles of new pylons.
But he said the Government was prepared to take on NIMBYs – campaigners known for their ‘not in my back yard’ resistance to planning applications – regardless of whether those disputes were in Labour-supporting areas.
The PM said: ‘We will take the tough decisions to make this work. That will include decisions on planning.’
Labour also faced fresh questions about its attitude to North Sea oil after Mr Miliband acknowledged Britain would continue to need fossil fuels ‘for many years to come’.
