ENERGY minister Michael Shanks has cast fresh doubt on Labour’s claims they would help cut bills by £300.
The Labour minister refused to confirm that his party’s energy policy would bring down bills by that amount – as he appeared to back away from using the £300 figure.
It throws up further questions for the party, as Labour previously claimed they would cut household bills during the election campaign.
The Tories have said the claim is a “lie” and Shanks was questioned about it during an energy policy debate in the Commons on Friday.
Former Tory chairman Richard Holden (below) said the public “absolutely need to know” how much Labour’s energy plans would cost them.
He said: “It’s been causing quite a lot of confusion in the national media over the last couple of days when Downing Street have been saying one thing, [energy minister Michael Shanks’] department have been saying another.
“Can he now confirm, on the parliamentary record, how much GB Energy will save, or cost, British billpayers by the time of the next election?”
Shanks accused the Tory MP of having a “brass neck” as he avoided getting into specifics on the policy.
He said: “I think it does take a bit of a brass neck to come here and talk about bringing down bills when the government that he supported for a long time saw those skyrocket.
“We’ve been very clear, bills will come down, we said that throughout the campaign, we said that yesterday and we stand by that because bills must come down, but this isn’t going to happen overnight.”
It follows days of confusion over the policy, after Energy Secretary Ed Miliband (above) also appeared to walk back specific promises about savings in interviews earlier in the week.
Downing Street also refused to confirm the £300 on Thursday but Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he stood by it.
