Nationalising energy companies not a solution to the problem, Miliband says

Ed Miliband has said nationalising energy companies “wouldn’t be a solution to the problem we face” when asked about the cost of Labour’s plan to support households with sky-rocketing energy bills.

Labour unveiled a plan on Monday to help bill-payers cover the rising cost of energy, which the party said would cost £28.9bn for six months. Its proposals include freezing energy bills at current levels until April 2023.

Appearing on Sky News this morning, the Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary said: “We looked at the situation we faced for the coming months, for this winter, and we’ve acted decisively.”

Pressed on whether energy prices will continue to rise after the six months has passed, he said: “I look forward to coming back and talking to you about that then.”

The Labour frontbencher continued: “People should be in no doubt about the fact that we will act. That we’re a responsible opposition. We want to be in government.”

“We’ve shown that we’ve got a fully-funded plan, and when we come forward in the months running up to April, we will also come forward with a fully-funded plan. But people should be in no doubt, we will act at the scale of the emergency that we face,” he added.

On why Labour is not calling for energy companies to be nationalised, Miliband told viewers: “That wouldn’t be a solution to the problem we face.”

Miliband declared: “We have an energy company in the public sector, that’s Bulb Energy. That went bust as a result of terrible government regulation. Bulb will demand this subsidy as well.

“So there are longer-term issues we’ve got to look at in relation to ownership, and we’ve said that many times. But, in terms of this crisis, in terms of this crisis we face, we want every penny to go to help cut people’s bills, and that is what yesterday’s announcement delivers.”

He added: “August 26th, we all know the cap goes up. September 5th the new Prime Minister gets elected. I’m saying the Conservative Party candidates – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – have got to come forward and tell us what are they going to do. Not to wait until the cap’s gone up, direct debits start rising, but to tell us now.”

On the overall cost of Labour’s plan, Miliband said: “Let’s talk about whether there is the money available to act. Because it’s not like this money that we’re all paying in our bills is disappearing into thin air. It’s going to energy companies, the oil and gas companies.”

Pressed on the fact that Labour would compensate energy companies to cover the cost of freezing energy bills, Miliband stressed: “We’re talking about different parts of the energy sector.”

He continued: “Rishi Sunak was saying he was going to take £5bn from them after we’d urged him month upon month to do it. We’ve shown how we can get an extra £8bn in yesterday’s announcement.

“It’s not like there isn’t money available. Some people will say: “It’s not sustainable we can’t act, we can’t act to protect people.” I disagree, we can act to protect people. That’s what we’ve done. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”