LABOUR have been accused of “betrayal” after repeatedly pledging to cut energy bills while Ofgem has announced a rise to the price cap.
Throughout the election campaign, senior figures in the party consistently promised Labour would bring down energy bills by hundreds of pounds in the coming years.
In June, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said a Labour government would help families save up to £300 off energy bills by 2030 and tackle the root causes of the cost-of-living crisis.
In the same month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to “cut bills, create jobs and provide energy security”, as he set out how Great British Energy – a planned publicly-owned energy company – will bring down energy costs.
But last month the SNP said there was “confusion and chaos” over Labour’s promises as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband began ducking questions about the £300 figure in a TV interview.
Even more questions are now being fired at Labour after Ofgem announced average household energy bills will increase by £149 from October, which follows on from Labour cutting the universal Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie told The National: “Labour spent the election campaign telling us that they would lower bills, but in their first few weeks in office we have seen price hikes and huge cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
“It is a betrayal of the many people who voted for them in good faith.
"For far too many people, prices have soared while wages have flatlined. This will only pile more misery on millions of households and families who are already being stretched by the cost of living crisis and are spending far too much to heat their homes.
"Meanwhile the oil and gas giants have laughed their way to the bank with obscene profits. We can't go on like this. Households can't afford it and nor can our planet.”
Miliband told journalists on Friday the price cap was going up because the UK does not have control over its own power.
He said the rise in prices was a “direct result” of the UK’s “exposure to international gas markets”, adding that the UK does not have energy security.
SNP MP Graham Leadbitter, who represents Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, said the rise in prices would be “confusing and frustrating” for people in Scotland.
“Scotland is an energy rich country and yet people here are being made to pay through the nose for Westminster’s failures,” he said.
“The announcement is confusing and frustrating in equal measure for Scots, particularly here in northern Scotland, who were promised an end to the cost-of-living crisis and who can see an abundance of energy produced in their own back gardens every day.
“It was a policy failure of previous UK governments that led to people in Scotland being made to pay enormous energy bills - a policy failure Labour seem intent on copying.
“Keir Starmer promised change - this is far from it.”
Back in May, there were headlines stating Labour would cut energy bills by £400 while as far back as August 2022 the party tweeted it would “stop energy bills rising”.
The boss of Ofgem, Jonathan Brearley, explained the reason the price cap was being lifted by 10% was to allow energy companies to make a “small profit”.
Many highlighted the likes of British Gas announced earlier this year that its profits for 2023 increased 10-fold to £750m.
Glasgow SNP councillor Ruari Kelly posted on Twitter/X: “Labour promised lower energy bills while in opposition, but in only three months, they will have overseen a 10% increase for everyone and removed the winter fuel allowance from the majority of pensioners.
“I don't think that's the change people were expecting.”
SNP MSP Kevin Stewart added: “After less than two months in power, Labour’s lies have been exposed once again as their election promise to bring down household bills is in tatters.
"The price rise will be particularly alarming for pensioners who have already been hit by Labour’s callous political choice to scrap the universal Winter Fuel payment."
