DOZENS of protests across the UK have taken aim at the Labour Government and its energy regulator as bills rise for the third time in a row.
On April 1, the energy price cap – the costs an average dual-fuel household will spend on annual energy bills – rose by 6.4% to £1849. It is the third consecutive increase since July 2024, when Labour came to power and the cap was at £1568.
The most recent increase came alongside other bill increases in areas such as broadband, water, council tax, and car tax.
Keith Stoddart, the chair of Unite community for the West of Scotland, said it felt “as if we're getting punched from every angle”.
“We're getting pushed into a corner, which is just totally unsatisfactory,” he went on.
“But specifically Ofgem, the reason we're here is because they're not looking after our interests, they're looking after the utilities’ interests. Profits are going up, shareholders are clapping their hands because they're getting more dividends.”
Stoddart said he had campaigned for Labour in the General Election in 2024, but now felt “let down”.
He said: “We hoped for change with the election and new government, but it looks like [Prime Minister Keir] Starmer's gang are just the same as the old gang. It's the folk at the bottom are getting hammered.
“It was quite difficult, I campaigned for Labour, it was quite difficult.
“It wasn't the actual slogan, but for a lot of it, it was ‘vote Labour but have no illusions’. Sadly, it's been proven correct.”
Elsewhere in the UK, protests took place in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Cardiff, Swansea, Doncaster, Gateshead, and at multiple sites across London.
In Glasgow, Jamie Caldwell, Unite community coordinator, said he had seen particularly acute concerns about the bill rises “engulfing” the retired and disabled members of the trade union he works with.
He went on: “There has been a massive UK Government failure. What we’re seeing is really an attack on working people rather than a wealth tax, which should [be used to] balance the books.
“Why is that increase happening when these companies are making record profits? We’re just paying more to shareholders.
“If it was publicly owned, that money would be going back into the infrastructure.”
A handful of Waspi women campaigners joined the protest outside Ofgem in Glasgow on Tuesday.
They told The National that they felt they had been subjected to a “triple whammy” from the UK Government: “Nae compensation, nae winter fuel payment, now this [energy bill rise].”
Key Labour figures, including the Prime Minister, had promised to work for fair and fast compensation for 1950s-born women who were negatively impacted by changes to the state pension age.
An ombudsman report in 2024 suggested compensation of £1000 to £2950 per person for Waspi campaigners – Women Against State Pension Inequality – but the Labour Government declined to do so.
Protesters outside the Glasgow Ofgem office on Tuesday held images of Starmer pledging to work to get them compensation, as well as a printed out Scottish Labour tweet promising to do the same – and for the Winter Fuel Payment to be “protected”.
A sign hung from the building opposite the Ofgem offices said the energy regulator had "failed", and called for public ownership of the sector.
“I acknowledge that with bills coming in, people see that rise and that is a pressure," he told Sky News. "That is why it’s so important we deliver on the national living wage, to make sure people are better off – £1,400, quite a significant amount of money for millions of workers.”
Workers on the living wage aged 21 and over will get a 6.7% pay increase, from £11.44 to £12.21 per hour, while 18 to 20-year-olds will receive an uplift of £1.40, from £8.60 to £10 per hour.
Unions welcomed the wage increase, with TUC general secretary Paul Nowak saying it would “make a real difference” to the lowest-paid workers and set out a path to ending “the outdated and unfair youth rates”.
“More money in working people’s pockets means more spend on our high streets – that’s good for workers and good for local economies,” he said.
