Labour MPs have voted against their own campaign pledge that Great British Energy will take £300 off consumer bills.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and several Cabinet Ministers have said creating Great British Energy would cut household energy bills by £300 by 2030.
But Labour MPs voted to reject an amendment which would make reducing household energy bills by £300 a priority.
Claire Coutinho, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero, said: “Ed Miliband promised time and time again that Great British Energy would cut bills by £300. Now he’s ordered his Labour MPs to vote against a Conservative amendment that would hold them to their word.
“This is because he knows that far from cutting bills, his reckless plans for energy are going to put people’s bills up and lead to the mass deindustrialisation of Britain. The public are right to wonder if anything Labour said in the general election is true.”
The Conservatives wanted to ensure Labour stick to their promises to cut energy bills and tabled an amendment to the Great British Energy Bill to introduce a specific strategic priority for Great British Energy to reduce the average household energy bill by £300 in real terms by 1st January 2030.
MPs voted 361 to 124, majority 237, to reject a Conservative amendment designed to make it a strategic priority for Great British Energy to reduce household energy bills by £300 by 2030.
MPs voted 361 to 115, majority 246, to reject a Conservative bid to mandate a strategic priority for Great British Energy to create 650,000 new jobs throughout the country by 2030.
Liberal Democrat MPs did not support the Conservative amendment.
The Tories said this shows they “cannot be relied on to provide any opposition to Labour”.
Energy minister Michael Shanks said: “Great British Energy should be accountable, transparent and open in all of its dealings and how it is delivering a return on investment.
“And that’s why we have made provisions in the Bill to ensure that regular updates are given in the form of annual reports and accounts which will be laid before Parliament for all members to review and, of course, as a company it will undergo external audit in the usual manner.”
“We are unapologetic that Great British Energy is a long-term project for this country, as part of a sustainable long-term plan to protect bill payers for good. I standby that commitment today,” he added.
GB Energy chairman Juergen Maier, speaking during the Bill’s committee stage earlier this month, was asked when he expected GB Energy to bring down energy bills.
He said the “only way” to get energy bills down and to get greater energy security is to get “more renewable energy on the grid, adding: “The exact mechanism by which that happens is, of course, a matter of policy — how you decide to bring those bills to the consumer.
“That is not the scope of Great British Energy; it is not the scope of the Bill, either.”
