Energy Prices

Order. The hon. Gentleman is not making a speech. An intervention has to be short.

This is a chance for us to come together and pass the motion so that we can tell the public that ...

Does the right hon. Lady recognise that a principal problem is that those on prepayment meters ar...

No. We can simplify the tariffs, and we recognise and welcome that. We can look at the problems o...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will give way one more time, then I want to make progress. I realise that we are short of time ...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. Was she as shocked as I was to see in the annual fuel pove...

It is regrettable and worrying that, as I understand it, the number of families in fuel poverty i...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will give way one last time.

My right hon. Friend is very kind. Is there not another dimension to this? In the country, includ...

Absolutely. People were told that technology—doing things online, for example—would always make t...

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

No, I will not.

Let me get back to the issue of competitive pressures. As I said, competiti...

rose—

Order. Before I call the Secretary of State, let me say that it will be obvious to the House that...

I join the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) in congratulating the hon. Member fo...

Does the Secretary of State share my surprise that the motion talks about the importance of passi...

My hon. Friend has spotted a point to which I will return. There is a bit of inconsistency there....

I have a lot of respect for the right hon. Gentleman, as he knows, but he has spoken about histor...

I am very grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. This is the greenest Government ever. W...

The concern is the inelasticity of prices, especially in their coming down. I am pleased that the...

I certainly believe that local energy generation is key in driving competition. I am proud that i...

rose—

I will let the hon. Gentleman intervene, but then I must make some progress.

It is very important that the Minister is not allowed to get away with an empty boast. The Energy...

Let me be fair to the hon. Gentleman—

Answer the question.

I am about to do so. I said that our reforms are beginning to work. It is true—that is what I sai...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not; I am going to make some progress.

Pursuing the Opposition’s policies would ...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

No.

I am not the first Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to be confronted wi...

rose—

I will give way to the right hon. Lady, who will no doubt tell us why the Leader of the Labour pa...

The proposition is that we should, across the House, recognise that when wholesale costs fall the...

I have already said that I believe that there is a problem—Ofgem and the competition authorities ...

Does the Secretary of State share my concern that the chief executive of First Utility, the large...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. All the new independent suppliers who are coming into the mar...

Is not the key difference that we are now in a situation where, because of the flatlining of the ...

I am grateful for that intervention because it shows that Labour has not even looked at what is h...

rose—

Oh, some answers—I am looking forward to this.

I understand that Ofgem—the regulator —wrote to all energy companies last week to say that they s...

I have spoken to Ofgem’s chief executive, Dermot Nolan. He is worried because the Labour party wa...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Forward markets help reduce risk and therefore help reduce prices for consumers. They help compet...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I came to the Chamber expecting a debate about energy pri...

That is not a point of order. You have made your point, Mr Flynn, but it is up to the Secretary o...

The House can probably see why I made that choice—[Interruption.] Frit? That is a joke.

The...

In a debate for which we have two and a quarter hours, the Secretary of State has spoken for half...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am not interested—I have only a few seconds left.

It is important that the Government rem...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow North West (John Robertson). I am sure our...

It does seem to me sometimes in these debates that it is the same old gang assembling to go over ...

My previous job was as competition Minister and we reformed the processes so it is quicker.

I will wait and see how quick “quicker” is.

It is interesting to look at some of the reason...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, as many others wish to speak.

In many of the rural areas of our constituencies, the ban...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir).

I often ponder on what coul...

Notwithstanding all that the Government profess to have done to end fuel poverty, Northern Irelan...

I shall say something about fuel poverty later in my speech, but I believe that a huge majority o...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will take just one more intervention, from my good friend the hon. Member for Linlithgow and Ea...

rose—

Order. Perhaps I can help here. Because of the interventions, I shall have to reduce the time lim...

Nevertheless, the point that I am about to make is very relevant. The hon. Gentleman has been a M...

Indeed, and across Europe those very same telecoms companies are now coming to Governments saying...

rose—

There was no concern about a cost of living crisis then whatever: no concern for the poor—no conc...

rose—

Order. I now introduce a six-minute time limit.

5.49 pm

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) for...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Gemma Doyle) and to speak in ...

We have seen family fuel bills go up by £300 on average since 2010. Families are feeling this inc...

The hon. Member for Angus (Mr Weir) said that these debates are often attended by the same old ga...

Hon. Members from across the House should congratulate the Leader of the Opposition on bringing t...

Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius. I know that I do not have to translate those words for yo...

Order.

6.23 pm

The reality of what we have been discussing has been distorted slightly by the Secretary of State...

I am grateful to be able to contribute to this debate. I commend the tenacity of my right hon. Fr...

May I just point out, for the record, that under this coalition fuel poverty has fallen in real t...

The Minister can change definitions, but he cannot change the fact that more people are living in...

Many people in Northern Ireland, who face the second highest fuel bills in Europe—behind only Ita...

My hon. Friend talks about the lack of competition in Northern Ireland. When wholesale prices com...

That is the whole point of this debate: should we have regulation to ensure that that is not allo...

We have had another interesting debate on the energy market—an issue that is high on the agenda o...

This has been a welcome opportunity to debate yet again one of the biggest