In a round of media interviews on Monday morning aimed at taking the lead on the crisis, the Labor leader dismissed the idea that it was too late to propose a solution given he had been on holiday for the past week. Under the proposals, the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning a planned 80% rise in October, taking the average household bill to around £3,600, would not happen. Asked why he was spending nearly £30 billion on a scheme that also helped the wealthiest people, Starmer said that while some other targeted measures would remain in place, his was the best overall approach. “We asked ourselves: do we want a plan that allows these prices to go up, causes this stress and then discounts some people after the event, but does nothing about inflation, or do we want to be more radical, bolder, more ambitious?’ he said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “One of the benefits of our proposal is that it reduces inflation, which benefits everyone, but especially the most vulnerable and those who are less well-off. “So I’m not going to apologize for a program that is comprehensive, costed, that has the dual benefit of eliminating these price increases and that is an effective anti-inflation measure.” Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies economic thinktank, questioned whether Labour’s plan would do much to help inflation, saying the rate would rise again once the energy subsidy ends. Asked about this in another interview, on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Starmer argued that it would still help with inflation over the winter. “What [Johnson] he rightly says that what happens after April matters, because you have to maintain measures to bring down inflation,” he said. “Of course, we should do it in April when we see the conditions.” An existing plan to give pensioners and those on Universal Credit an extra £650 in help will remain in place, Starmer said, and the party will also press ahead with changes to prepayment meters, which are used by many of the most financially vulnerable households. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In the longer term, he said, Labor would spend billions of pounds insulating homes so people would need to use less energy. Starmer contrasts his plan with a lack of action from Boris Johnson amid competing plans from the two candidates to replace him, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. “The Conservative party has not made that choice,” he told Good Morning Britain. “He can’t make that choice. Because all we’ve seen from them is infighting between leadership hopefuls, all arguing about how awful they’ve been in government, and a prime minister who’s lame.” Labor says the plan could be funded by extending the scope of the windfall tax on energy companies, suspending the proposed £400 payments for all households and reducing government interest payments on the debt due to lower inflation. Starmer faced criticism for the time it took for Labor to present its plan. A week ago, the Lib Dems said energy price rises must be stopped, while last week former Labor prime minister Gordon Brown presented his own plan for the crisis. Brown took what was seen as a thinly veiled jab at Starmer, who was absent at the time, saying that fits “don’t take a holiday”. Asked for comment, Starmer told BBC One’s Breakfast that his team had been working on the plan for more than six weeks. He added: “The second part of my answer is this: I have a very important job as leader of the Labor Party, leader of the opposition. But I also have another job that is very important, and that is being a dad. “I’m not going to apologize for going on vacation with my kids. It’s the first time we’ve had a real vacation in about three years.” Brown’s plan also calls on ministers to consider temporarily nationalizing energy suppliers, as happened with banks during the 2009 financial crisis. Starmer rejected this, telling Today: “In an emergency like this, I think every penny should be used to reduce household bills across the country, not to compensate shareholders in energy companies.”
