Fuel prices frozen if Labour win

GAS and electricity prices will be frozen for homes and businesses for 20 months after the 2015 general election if Labour wins power, Ed Miliband announced today.
Labour leader Ed Miliband and his wife Justine in their hotel room in Brighton, as he gets ready to give his  keynote speechLabour leader Ed Miliband and his wife Justine in their hotel room in Brighton, as he gets ready to give his  keynote speech
Labour leader Ed Miliband and his wife Justine in their hotel room in Brighton, as he gets ready to give his keynote speech

The Labour leader said the move would save the typical household £120 and an average business £1,800 between May 2015 and January 2017.

But the dramatic policy put him on collision course with the “Big Six” energy companies, which stand to lose an estimated £4.5 billion and have not been consulted on the scheme.

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Speaking to Labour’s annual conference in Brighton, Mr Miliband said: “The companies won’t like it because it will cost them money. But they have been overcharging people for too long because the market doesn’t work. It’s time to reset the market.”

Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband and wife Justine walk to the Brighton CentreLabour Party Leader Ed Miliband and wife Justine walk to the Brighton Centre
Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband and wife Justine walk to the Brighton Centre

Mr Miliband accused the coalition Government of allowing energy prices to get out of control because David Cameron did not have “the strength to stand up to the strong”.

Families’ energy bills have risen by almost £300 since the coalition took office in 2010, and companies now say that energy is the second biggest cost they face, after wages.

A report by consumer group Which? last weekend estimated that flaws in the market had left consumers paying £3.9 billion a year over the odds.

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Mr Miliband told the Labour conference that soaring energy prices were part of a “cost-of-living crisis” which had left ordinary people struggling to pay their bills, while the proceeds of the UK’s economic recovery were siphoned off by a “privileged few”.

In a keynote speech delivered without notes, he repeatedly declared “Britain can do better”.

“In the 1990s, Labour committed to a dynamic market economy,” said Mr Miliband. “We were right to do so.

“But what happens when competition fails, what happens when it just fails again and again?

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“Government has to act - with the train companies that put the price of the daily commute further and further out of reach, with the payday lenders who force people into unpayable debt, and with the big gas and electricity companies, that put prices up and up and up.

“It’s not good for the economy - it’s not a dynamic market economy when one section of society does so well at the expense of others. It’s bad for families, it’s bad for business and it’s bad for Britain too.

“Some people will just blame the companies, but I don’t think that’s where the blame lies. Ultimately it lies with the Government for not having the strength to take this on, not having stood up to the powerful interests, for not having had the strength to stand up to the strong.”

Labour has already announced it will legislate to force energy companies to separate into energy generation and retail arms, to create more competition, and will abolish regulator Ofgem and replace it with a new watchdog with sharper teeth. But Mr Miliband said that these reforms will not kick in until the start of 2017.

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But he said he was not willing to stand by in the meantime, telling delegates: “If we win the next election in 2015, the next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017. Your bills will be frozen, benefiting millions of families and millions of businesses.

“That’s what I mean by a government that fights for you, that’s what I mean when I say: Britain can do better than this.”

Aides said that Labour believes energy companies will be able to absorb the cost of the price freeze, because of the large profits they have made in recent years.

They said that if the companies sought to dodge the freeze by hiking prices before the election, Mr Cameron should be ready to act to hold bills down.

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Ofgem already has the powers to enforce a freeze but Labour will legislate to reinforce this, said a party source.

Mr Miliband said that only a party that made repairing the “vital link” between a growing economy and most people’s standards of living its “central defining feature” could solve the UK’s problems.

“For generations in Britain, when the economy grew, the majority got better off,” he said.

“And then somewhere along the way that vital link between the growing wealth of the country and your family finances was broken.

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“They used to say a rising tide lifted all boats. Now the rising tide just seems to lift the yachts.

“I say this to the people of Britain: I wouldn’t even take a second look at a political party unless they make this their central defining purpose.

“Because your future depends on it; your children’s future depends on it; Britain’s future depends upon it. I say: we are Britain, we can do better than this.”

David Cameron persuaded voters in 2010 that he “got it”, he said, “but I don’t believe they got the change they were voting for”, he said.

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He accused the Tory leader of planning to use his conference to “resume his lap of honour for how brilliantly he’s done” and claiming credit for having “saved the economy”.

But the truth was that he and Chancellor George Osborne should be on a “lap of shame”.

“The slowest recovery in 100 years, one million young people looking for work, more people working part-time who want full-time work, more people for a generation out of work for longer, the longest fall in living standards since 1870.

“That is not worthy of a lap of honour, that is worthy of a lap of shame and that is the record of this Government,” he said to sustained loud applause.

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Drawing on a slogan once used by US president Ronald Reagan, he said: “In 2015 you’ll be asking: am I better off now than I was five years ago and we already know the answer for millions of families will be no.

“You have made the sacrifices but you haven’t got the rewards. You were the first into the recession but you are the last one out.

“When these Tories tell you that the pain will be worth the gain, don’t believe them. They can’t solve the cost of living crisis and here is why: the cost of living crisis isn’t an accident of David Cameron’s economic policy. It is his economic policy.

“He believes in a single global race but what he doesn’t tell you is that for Britain to win the global race, you have to lose: lower wages, worse terms and conditions, fewer rights at work.

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“It is a race to the bottom. Britain cannot and should not win that race.”

Mr Miliband said the government had to “win the race to the top” to ensure companies wanted to invest in Britain, creating the wealth and jobs needed for the future.

But he warned delegates it would be difficult.

He said: “It’s going to be tough. It’s not going to be easy and I am not going to stand here today and pretend to you that it is.

“We’re going to have stick to strict spending limits to get the deficit down, we’re not going to be able to spend money that we don’t have and frankly if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, the country wouldn’t believe me and they would be right not to believe me.

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“But we can make a difference and we can win the race to the top.”

He said the country could not afford not to have environmental commitment, adding Labour would have a “route map” to take all of the carbon out of Britain’s energy by 2030, creating one million new jobs.

Mr Miliband said Labour would also support small businesses. He said many small businesses had been “short-changed”, telling the conference Labour would cut rates for small businesses with money the current Government is using to cut taxes for 80,000 large businesses.

The move would help small businesses by £450 a year. Government contracts would only be available to companies which offered apprenticeships.

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Skilled workers from outside the EU could only be offered jobs if companies were willing to offer apprenticeships to young people, he added.

The Labour leader said there was a “tragedy” of young people out of work who were not in training or education.

Mr Miliband said his mantra was that “Britain can do better than this” - comparing it with the emotion that had powered Britain out of the Second World War under a reforming Labour government.

“A feeling that is so threatening to those who want to keep things as they are, words that are so basic and yet so powerful, so modest and yet so hard to believe.

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“Six little words that say: Britain can do better than this. We are Britain, we can do better than this.”

“Are you satisfied with a country where people are working harder, for longer , for less?” he asked - a country which was “divided, losing touch with the things we value the most”, which “shuts out the voices of millions of ordinary people and listens only to the powerful” and is “standing apart as two nations”.

He said: “I’m not satisfied.”

Mr Miliband said Labour wanted “an economy built on your success, a society based on your values, a politics that hears your voice. Rich and poor alike, accepting their responsibilities to each other. One Nation - we are going to make it happen and today I’m going to tell you how.”

He said that he had shown leadership in running against his brother for Labour’s top job, in standing up to media mogul Rupert Murdoch and in opposing the Government’s attempt to secure parliamentary approval for UK involvement in military action in Syria.

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Mr Miliband said: “Leadership is about risks and difficult decisions. It’s about those lonely moments when you have to peer deep into your soul.”

The leadership contest was “really hard for my family, but I believed that Labour needed to turn a page and I was the best person to do it”, he said.

On standing up to Mr Murdoch, he said “it hadn’t been done in the past, but it was the right thing to do, so I did it”.

And on Syria, he said: “It would have been a rush to war, it wasn’t the right thing for our country, so I said No. It was the right thing to do.”

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Mr Miliband said: “The real test of leadership is not whether you stand up to the weak - that’s easy. It is whether you stand up to the strong and know who to fight for.”

He paid tribute to his mother as the “most patient, generous person I have known”, who he said had taught him “the importance of reaching out and listening to people and understanding their hopes and struggles”.

“She taught me never to be contemptuous to others, never to be dismissive of their struggles,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the stories about smears and negative briefing by Gordon Brown’s spin doctor Damian McBride which have dominated the conference, he said: “Some people say you have got to leave decency behind when you go into politics. I say they are wrong, because only if you reach out and listen can you do the most important thing a politician can do - the most important qualification for a prime minister - that is the ability to walk in the shoes of others and know who to fight for.”

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To applause, he declared: “This is what I believe, this is where I stand, this is the leadership Britain needs.”

Mr Miliband added: “I have seen in Afghanistan our young men and women who are old enough to be my son or daughter and it is a truly humbling experience and don’t the events in the last few days in Kenya remind us of the importance of being ever vigilant against terrorism at home and around the world.”

Mr Miliband said he had met a number of voters around the country who were angry that the economy was not working for them. A scaffolder he had met close to his home had said he was unable to afford his gas and electricity bills, while a 19-year-old single mother, who was an ambulance controller, had said she resented being treated as a burden on the state.

He said another man had told him he spent 10 years looking after his disabled wife before spending another four years looking for a job.

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Mr Miliband said: “If you listen to these stories ... and you have your own and your friends and family, what do you learn? All of these people love Britain, they embody its great spirit but they all believe Britain can do better than this.

“Today, I say to them and millions of others, you’re right. Britain can do better than this. Britain must do better than this. Britain will do better than this, with a government that fights for Britain.”

Mr Miliband said the Government had “low aspirations” for ordinary British families but “high hopes for those at the top”.

Noting recent increases in City bonuses, he said: “When they tell you the economy has recovered and everything is fixed, just remember that they are not talking about your life, they are talking about their friends at the top.”

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In a scathing retort to Tory peer Lord Howell’s quote that fracking should be sited in the “desolate” North East, Mr Miliband said Labour should remind the Government of the lives of communities in every corner of the UK: “People go out to work, they love their kids, they bring up their families, they care for their neighbours, they look out for each other, they are proud of their communities, they hope for the future.

“The Tories call them inhabitants of desolate areas, we call them our friends, our neighbours, the heroes of our country.

“And they are fed-up of a Government that doesn’t understand their lives and a Prime Minister who can’t walk in their shoes. We are Britain - we are better than that.”

He said: “To make Britain better, we need a race to the top, which means other countries will buy our goods, companies will come and invest here, and we will create jobs for the future.

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“But we are not going to be able to do it easily - it is going to be tough.

“We are going to have to stick to strict spending limits to get the deficit down. We are not going to be able to spend money we don’t have.”

Mr Miliband said that he wanted to look at whether different levels of minimum wage can be set for different parts of the economy.

“We have to got to look at whether there are some sectors where we can afford a higher minimum,” he said.

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“The next Labour Government will strengthen the minimum wage to make work pay for millions in our country.”

Mr Miliband said that Labour would act to deal with the exploitation of migrant workers who are paid below the minimum wage and undercut home-grown labour.

But he said the party would not respond to concerns about immigration by becoming isolationist.

“If people want a party that will cut itself off from the rest of the world, let me say squarely - Labour is not your party,” he said.

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“But if people want a party that will set the right rules for working people, Labour is your party.”

Identifying problems with employers who pay below the minimum wage while the Government “turns a blind eye”, employment agencies which only recruit overseas, “shady” gangmasters who exploit foreign workers and “rogue landlords” who cram migrants into overcrowded houses, Mr Miliband repeatedly said: “It’s a race to the bottom. Not under my government.”

He insisted that Labour was not “pandering to prejudice” over migrant workers but acting to counter prejudice.

Mr Miliband said the Government also wanted to make it easier for parents, joking he had recently taken his son Daniel to school for the first time.

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He said: “He was nervous at first but actually pretty soon he started having fun. It’s a bit like being leader of the Labour party really. Well, it’s not exactly about being leader of the Labour party.”

Mr Miliband added: “For so many parents in this country the demands of the daily school run combined with the demands of their job is like their very own assault course.

“We have to understand that because we can’t win the race to the top with stressed out parents, with family life under strain. In the last century schools stayed open until mid-afternoon and that was ok then because one parent often stayed at home but it is not ok now and that is why we want every primary school in Britain to have the breakfast clubs and after school care that parents need.”

On the energy bill freeze, Mr Miliband said: “Your bills will not rise. It will benefit millions of families and millions of businesses. That’s what I mean by a government that fights for you, that’s what I mean when I say Britain can do better than this.”

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Mr Miliband called for his party to raise its sights like the 1945 Labour government that created the NHS.

In power, Labour would create a “truly integrated” NHS that would stop treating mental health as an “afterthought” and help the elderly get the social care they need.

Describing the NHS as “the greatest institution of our country”, he said: “The 1945 Labour government in really tough times raised its sights and created the National Health Service. I want the next Labour government to do the same. Even in tough times, to raise our sights about what the health service can achieve. Bringing together physical health, mental health and the care needs of the elderly, a truly integrated National Health Service. That’s the vision for the future.”

Mr Miliband also pledged action to build start building 200,000 homes a year by tackling property developers that “sit on land”, giving local authorities power to expand and identifying new towns.

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He said: “We’ll say to private developers, you can’t just sit on land and refuse to build. We’ll give them a very clear message - either use the land or lose the land. That is what the next Labour government will do.

“We’ll say to local authorities that they have a right to grow and neighbouring authorities can’t just stop them, we’ll identify new towns and garden cities, and we’ll have a clear aim that by the end of the parliament Britain will be building 200,000 homes a year more than at any time for a generation.”

Addressing planned reforms to the party’s historic link with the trade union movement, he said he understood why people were “uncomfortable about some of the changes”.

Many unions are angry about moves to force their members to opt in to party membership rather than being automatically affiliated but he urged their leaderships to work with him to make Labour “truly the people’s party once again”.

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“With all the forces ranged against us, we can’t just be a party of 200,000 people. We have got to be a party of 500,000, 600,000 or many more.

“I am optimistic enough, some might say idealistic enough, to believe that is possible.

“And the reason it is possible in our party is because of the unique link with the trade unions. I don’t want to end that link, I want to mend that link and hear the voices of individual working people in our party louder than before.”

He said: “You can’t be a party that properly fights for working people unless you have working people at the core of your party up and down this country.

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“That is the point of my reforms and I want to work with you to make them happen so we can make ourselves a mass membership party.

“Friends, let’s make ourselves truly the people’s party once again.”

He confirmed the party’s backing for the vote to be extended to 16 and 17-year-olds.

“Let’s give a voice to these young people in our party and let’s give a voice to these young people in our democracy. Let’s give the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds and make them part of our democracy.”

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Calling on Labour to “win the battle for the United Kingdom” by opposing independence for Scotland in next year’s referendum, Mr Miliband told the story of Glasgow supermarket worker Cathy Murphy, who was treated for heart problems at an NHS hospital in LIverpool and was attending the conference in Brighton.

“She told me the hospital didn’t care where she lived, they cared about her because she is Scottish and British - a citizen of our United Kingdom,” he said.

Mr Miliband took on criticisms of his leadership style head-on and said he was “relishing” going up against Mr Cameron in a test of character.

“The next election isn’t just going to be about policy, it’s going to be about how we lead and the character we show,” he said.

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“I have got a message for the Tories today: if they want to have a test about leadership and character, be my guest.

“And if you want to know the difference between me and David Cameron, here’s an easy way to remember it - when it was Murdoch versus the McCanns, he took the side of Murdoch; when it was the tobacco lobby versus the cancer charities, he took the side of the tobacco lobby; when it was the millionaires who wanted a tax cut versus the people paying the bedroom tax, he took the side of the millionaires.

“Come to think of it, here’s an even easier way to remember it. David Cameron is the Prime Minister who introduced the bedroom tax, I will be the prime minister who repeals the bedroom tax.

“Here’s the thing about David Cameron - he may be strong at standing up to the weak, but he is always weak about standing up to the strong.

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“That’s the difference between me and David Cameron. So, please, let’s have that debate about leadership and character, and I will relish that debate.”

The Tories have “wrecked” the NHS and are now running it down because they are “desperately thrashing around trying to find someone else to blame”, he said.

“Blame the doctors, blame the nurses, blame the last Labour government.

“It is as simple as ABC: when it comes to blame, it’s Anyone’s But Cameron’s.

“It is the same old story: we rescue the NHS, they wreck the NHS, and we have to rescue it all over again - and that is what the next Labour government will do.”