Responding to the hike in energy prices to the highest level for three years, under the regulator Ofgem’s latest price cap, Green MP Hannah Spencer said:
“It’s a repeat story for millions of households – energy bills up just in time for winter, and now to their highest level in three years. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies rake in billions in profits.
“Bill payers are being ripped off, and while Burnham keeps talking about giving struggling households breathing space, today’s rise in the price cap will see his measly £45 a year bill reduction more than wiped out.
“The government could immediately cut bills by removing policy costs and the costs of servicing energy debt off bills and onto wealth taxes. They are choosing not to.
“The Green Party knows that small tweaks won’t cut it. Only by scaling up renewable energy, ending rampant profiteering by energy giants, insulating millions of homes, and fully decoupling the price of gas from electricity can we bring down bills for good. Giving the green light to new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea won’t cut bills, it will only worsen the climate crisis.”
Commenting on the new energy price cap announced today by the Regulator Ofgem, that could see a 13% increase in a typical household’s energy prices, Hannah Spencer, Green MP for Gorton and Denton, said:
“Today’s Ofgem price cap announcement will leave so many people even more stressed out and worried about affording their energy bills. Millions of people are already struggling to make ends meet, and it is unacceptable that energy costs continue to shoot up whilst BP’s profits double.
“We need immediate government intervention. Rachel Reeves needs to step in and freeze the cap before energy bills go up on July 1st. And if she’s wondering how to pay for it, there are some people doing very well out of this crisis. The government should start by taxing every penny of the huge windfall profits oil and gas giants have made since the start of the illegal war on Iran.
“Our energy market is incredibly unfair, built to line the pockets of shareholders whilst working people foot the bill. It’s a damning indictment of rip off Britain that simply keeping our homes warm enough in winter and cool enough in summer has become a luxury very few people can afford. We need urgent action, now.”
HOUSEHOLDS must not bear the brunt of US President Donald Trump’s illegal war, campaigners warned today, as energy bills are set to rise by 13 per cent.
Ofgem’s new price cap from July 1 will see the typical household face an annual energy cost of £1,862 — up £221 on current levels, or £18 a month.
The regulator said higher wholesale gas prices, “driven by ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” were behind the increase.
Energy costs have soared since the US and Israel began their war on Iran and the subsequent blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.
Calls have mounted for the government to set out action to support the most vulnerable with bills, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has refused any immediate energy measures in her cost-of-living plan.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the government must “go further and faster to protect households from punishing energy price rises in the coming months.”
“Households must not bear the brunt of costs from Trump’s illegal war,” he said.
“Painful energy price rises are coming down the track — and working people are already feeling the pinch with fuel costs rising because of Trumpflation.
…
Eva Watkinson of Debt Justice called it a “scandal” that the cap was rising while energy companies continued to post enormous profits, saying the government must “immediately act to write off debts that have built up during the cost-of-living crisis.”
Green MP Hannah Spencer demanded immediate government intervention, telling Ms Reeves to freeze the cap before bills go up.
“And if she’s wondering how to pay for it, there are some people doing very well out of this crisis,” she said.
“The government should start by taxing 100 per cent of the huge windfall profits oil and gas giants have made since the start of the illegal war on Iran.”
My Green colleagues and I are so incredibly disappointed in this King’s Speech, but it’s not a surprise. In the wake of a devastating set of local election results for the Labour Party, the Prime Minister and the government should have used this opportunity to lay out an urgent, transformative, progressive programme to redistribute wealth, tackle the nature and climate crisis and make life affordable for everyone.
My Green colleagues and I will seek to amend the government’s plans to include the urgent action needed to bring down people’s bills – rent controls, nationalising water, freezing energy prices, and taxing wealth. We need to see these measures despite the Labour Party’s drama, and even if there’s a different Prime Minister this time tomorrow!
I’m disappointed that instead of using this opportunity to get behind the Green Party’s demands, the government has laid out more of the same fiddling around the edges. There’s some positive movement on democratic reform and EU alignment, but also worrying double-downs on airport expansion and their cruel, unworkable immigration policy.
I was elected to give a voice to a politics that represents everyone. This is the first King’s Speech I have been in Parliament to hear, and I haven’t heard anywhere near enough to make meaningful changes to people’s lives. It’s a missed opportunity, it’s disappointing, and it’s out of touch. The people of this country deserve so much more.
The amendment will include:
Freezing energy prices in July to stop them going up by over £300
New powers to control rents
Funding for councils to buy existing homes from private landlords
Water utilities to be brought back into public ownership
Free bus passes for under 22s
Universal free school meals
Further measures to tax fossil fuel companies and the extreme wealth of billionaires and multimillionaires
Apologies, I have withdrawn this article because I consider that it was misleading. It referred to a YouGov poll of 3 March 2026 [ed: 2nd March] instead of a more recent one.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Go further, faster: Paul Nowak
