JULIE ELLIOTT: Measures to help struggling families are simply not enough

As the soaring energy costs have already hit people’s pockets, it is essential the Government does more to support people, and keep the energy supply sustainable. Their plan was disappointing to say the least.

It is clear the Governments’ goals of security, affordability and sustainability are far from being met, despite how urgent this issue quite evidently is.

They did not present a proper plan to ensure energy security, preferring instead to provide a series of aims with no real strategy to achieve them.

It is yet another example of the Tories failing to acknowledge that we are in a cost-of-living crisis. The Government has failed to provide proper support, providing only a small discount that does not even start to cover the increase in costs, and a loan which we all must pay back. I have been contacted by so many people in Sunderland who are so worried about household energy costs. I am doing all I can to help but it is in the Government's power to do more.

Their strategy offers nothing that will get bills down in the next decade, let alone the next year.

It is obvious that Boris Johnson does not understand the finances of people up and down this country - his own energy strategy has rejected the cheapest, quickest forms of power we have, like onshore wind and solar, because he has put his party interest before the national interest.

The short-sightedness of this Tory government will keep energy bills high.

The Government should be investing in the cheapest forms of home-grown power; failures to deliver on more onshore wind and solar and in proper energy efficiency matter, because they are not just the cheapest and cleanest responses to the crisis that we face, but the quickest to deliver. Energy efficiency would cut bills, imports and fuel poverty.

Labour’s plan for a windfall tax on oil and gas producers in the North Sea and a proper energy efficiency scheme could cut up to £400 off household bills per year, cut gas imports by 15%, more than the entirety of what we import from Russia, and support over 500,000 jobs across the UK over the next few years.

The measures put in place by this Tory Government to help families that are struggling are simply not enough.

And it is clear from the Prime Minister’s latest law breaking – they simply cannot be trusted.