THE government could intervene to soften the impact of rising energy prices, Housing Secretary Steve Reed has said.
He told GB News: “Well, we’re all concerned, naturally about what we’re seeing happening in the Middle East, this war has only lasted so far a little over a week. I don’t know how long it’s going to continue, whether it’s a few days, whether it’s going to be longer.
“The sensible thing for government to do is to monitor the situation closely, and the government is looking at it hourly to see what is happening. So if there is a need for intervention, then that intervention can happen.
“But as things stand, households will be still getting £150 reduction in their energy bills from April and that is locked in for the following three months.
“And whatever happens in the world, whatever crises come, the fact that we now have a more stable economy that’s seen wages rising, national debt falling, inflation coming down, puts us in a better position to weather the storms, whatever they may be. But of course, when it comes to oil prices, we’re monitoring the situation hourly.
“There are many factors at play here. We need to look at what’s happening with oil prices so we can stand ready to consider action if it is required.”
He added: “The point of monitoring is, of course, so that we can take action when it becomes necessary. Now, you mentioned the North Sea just then. No contracts for drilling oil from the North Sea have been cancelled, so we’re still drilling oil from the North Sea.
“Even if we were to drill more, it would have zero impact on the price of oil in this country, because the price is set globally.
“So we could increase capacity, which would not help one iota with the cost of living. What will help is moving away from dependence on fossil fuels, and we see how expensive they are. We see how subject they are to crises, whether it’s the Middle East or Ukraine.
“Move from that to taking back control of our energy by generating more of it here at home. That’s wind, wave, solar, nuclear, so that the British people are in charge of our own British energy, and then whatever happens in the rest of the planet isn’t going to affect household bills.”
On cutting fuel duty, he said: “Well, that would be in September. There’s no change to be considered until September. As I said, we’re only one week, just over, into what’s happening in Iran.
“I don’t even know where we’ll be at the end of next week, let alone towards the end of the year, in September, so we’ll need to look at that when we get there, and let’s all hope and let’s all do what we can, particularly in government, to try and ease these tensions and bring this crisis to an end.”
