Gordon Brown has called for the temporary re-nationalisation of energy companies if they fail to cut the cost of gas and electricity over the winter.
The former Labour Prime Minister said the energy price cap that will see household energy bills rocket to £4.200 in January should be cancelled and for the government to negotiate new lower prices with the companies.
If they refuse to co-operate Brown said emergency action should be taken and that energy suppliers should be temporarily nationalised to protect consumers, just as he did with some of the banks in 2009 during the financial crisis.
READ MORE: Labour calls for 'shameful' loophole in windfall tax to be closed
In a dig at redundant Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the squabbling Tory leadership candidates, Brown warned: "Time and tide wait for no one. Neither do crises.
"They don’t take holidays, and don’t politely hang fire – certainly not to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the whims of two potential successors."
Brown’s intervention came ahead of a Downing Street summit between stand-in chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and the big energy companies.
The suppliers will come under pressure to explain their bumper profits at Thursday’s meeting.
But Boris Johnson, who has returned from holiday in Slovenia, made it clear that decisions on how to tackle the cost of living crisis will be left to either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss when one of them takes office next month.
Sunak has promised more support for lower income households and Truss has not ruled out help but puts emphasis on tax cuts. Neither appears in favour of a higher windfall tax on energy companies.
Shell, BP and British Gas owner Centrica have all announced bumper financial results while households struggle with soaring bills.
Brown’s prescription, which include scrapping the energy cap rise before the official announcement on 26 August and agreeing higher payments for vulnerable households, goes further than Labour’s own stance.
Keir Starmer recently ruled out nationalising the utility companies and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves called for tax loopholes for oil and gas companies to be closed.
Brown said his plan would be paid for by new “watertight windfall tax” on oil and gas and a new tax on the high levels of city bonuses which he said were pushing up wage inflation.
Those measures could raise £15 billion, he said, enough to give nearly eight million low income families just under £2,000 each.
Brown said: “Families of 2022 are about to suffer more than in 2008-09 and only bold and decisive action starting this week will rescue people from hardship and reunite our fractured country.”
