On Trevor Phillips on Sky this morning, Ed Davey did a fantastic job of taking down the Conservatives over their “cruel” cuts to Universal Credit.
As a former Secretary of State for Energy, he speaks with some authority on rising fuel prices and how to help the poorest through that.
He called for the Warm Homes Discount, currently worth £140 to those on certain benefits or low incomes to be doubled or tripled and for eligibility to be extended.
He also highlighted how he had continued the insulation programmes in place when he took over, but the Conservatives had failed to keep that work going.
Lib Dem leader @EdwardJDavey tells @TrevorPTweets the business secretary has failed to "engage" with the energy crisis, adding he would triple the Warm Homes Discount and extend it to more households.#Phillips: https://t.co/7FArLWBlRL pic.twitter.com/BquzJQhSOI
— Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) October 10, 2021
He was also asked about the story this morning that the UK Government had not paid France what it owes for border work. Ed spoke about how people needed safe and legal routes to come to this country to settle as refugees or to be reunited with family.
"It looks like the UK government isn't paying its bills and that's causing the problem."
Lib Dem leader @EdwardJDavey says the govt's policy on migrant crossings "is not working" because they're "not dealing with the root cause".#Phillips: https://t.co/7FArLWBlRL pic.twitter.com/ZfVUm4hQBF
— Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge (@SkyPoliticsHub) October 10, 2021
It was a strong interview with a simple and clear message. This was in definite contrast to Kwasi Kwarteng, who struggled to inspire confidence that he could keep the lights on this Winter. I remember that awful Winter in 1973 when we kept having power cuts and I have no desire to repeat that, thank you very much.
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I remember the winter of 1973, with electricity being available, then switched off, in 3 hours blocks each day. I recall how we hoped the ‘off’ was from 6am to 9am as that meant schools were unable to be heated in time to admit pupils, so we got the day off and had a long lie until 9am when we got up for breakfast when the power came back on. Unfortunately I don’t think any power cuts this winter would be as organised so the effects would be far more disruptive.
Instead of just warm payments why don’t the Lib Dems have policies for people’s energy – a plan for energy independence using Shale and Nuclear. You can keep the regressive green taxes as part of our energy bills and use them to properly distribute to communities affected by fracking and nuclear. Otherwise all you’re doing is giving money to Putin. I know where I’d prefer my money going.
Agree with Ed using the polluter pays principle well established in the party over many years we could raise the necessary carbon taxes to offset heating poverty this winter through an extended discount scheme .
Gas price inflationary increases should be the motivator to encourage us all to switch to low carbon fossil fuel alternatives.