Labour’s promise of cheaper energy failed to mention the small print

Editorial: With gas and electricity bills set to go up this autumn, and the winter fuel allowance to be means-tested, the less well-off could be hit hard. Ministers must not raise the temperature with extravagant claims about the cost advantages of green energy

On a visit to a Welsh wind farm, Keir Starmer revealed his intention to make Britain an ‘energy superpower’ (PA)

When Sir Keir Starmer promised in Labour’s manifesto that “we will bring down the cost of energy”, there were some conditions attached. Unfortunately, they were in such small print that they were not visible to the naked eye.

What the manifesto did not say was: “But not straight away.” Indeed, it did not say that the cost of energy would rise in the short term. It did not hint at this week’s news, which is that gas and electricity bills are forecast to go up by 9 per cent on 1 October.

Nor did it mention that it would become even more difficult for many pensioners on incomes just above the pension credit threshold to pay their bills because the winter fuel allowance would be taken away.

Ministers have had the decency to be embarrassed by Rachel Reeves’s decision, as chancellor, to withdraw the winter fuel payment from pensioners who do not receive the means-tested pension credit. Belatedly, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, has announced a “campaign encouraging pensioners to claim pension credit”, which looks like an attempt, after the event, to soften the blow – now that the government has realised that the withdrawal of the payment is seriously unpopular.

It is estimated that only about two-thirds of old people who are entitled to pension credit actually claim it, so it is likely that a great deal of hardship could be alleviated if take-up were increased. And it is possible that the withdrawal of the winter fuel payment will prompt more people to check whether they are eligible.

But this smacks of precisely the kind of “sticking-plaster politics” for which Sir Keir castigated the previous government. The Independent would prefer the continuation of the winter fuel allowance, while making it taxable – paid for, if necessary, by small tax rises on, say, banks and online retailers.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir is in Wales looking at wind turbines, and talking in grand and unspecific terms about how the green energy revolution will mean cheaper bills – eventually.

This is the other part of the invisible small print of Labour’s election promises. Renewable energy is wonderful and necessary, but it is not necessarily cheaper than fossil fuels. Wind turbines and solar panels are virtually free to run once they have been built, but they cost a lot to build and to connect to the electricity grid. So even if Labour’s green ambitions are feasible, the promise of lower bills needs to be qualified, again, by “not straight away”.

The Independent disagrees, however, with Robert Jenrick, one of the contenders to be Conservative leader, who said on Tuesday: “The UK [accounts for] 1 per cent of the world’s emissions. There’s no prize for being the first country in the world to decarbonise. We should be working towards net zero 2050, but we shouldn’t be decarbonising faster than our major competitors.”

On the contrary: there are prizes for being a world leader in decarbonisation. Britain could be a leader in green tech and project management at a time when most of the world is turning towards a low-carbon economic model.

But Labour must beware the danger of overclaiming the cost advantages of green electricity – especially until the problem of energy storage for still or cloudy days has been solved. Meanwhile, it should respect the promise in its manifesto to bring down the cost of energy. That means, as a first step, reversing the decision to means-test the winter fuel allowance.