Commenting on Government’s response to the King Review, which proposes watering down EU plans to lower new car carbon dioxide emissions by phasing them in slowly, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said: “When the economy is ailing, environmental policies are instantly dumped.”

Norman Baker continued, saying: “In these tough economic times the Government should be promoting green technology as a way to provide jobs.

“Hot on the heels of the vast amounts of money for motorway widening announced in the Pre-Budget Report, ministers are planning to weaken cuts in car emissions too.“This week has shown the Government’s environmental rhetoric is only skin deep.”

According to the BBC four of the UK’s leading supermarkets say they are confident that by next Easter they will have halved the number of plastic bags handed to customers.  

They were speaking after Waitrose and Asda told MPs they had already achieved 30% cuts by moving bags under counters so shoppers had to ask for them.  

Supermarkets agreed to voluntary annual 25% cuts in bag use last year - heading off the option of plastic bag charges.  

UK retailers hand out an estimated 13 billion free plastic bags every year. Use of the bags, which take about 1,000 years to decay, is being examined as part of an inquiry by the Commons environment and rural affairs select committee into waste management in England.  

This is welcome news, it is recognised that families now spend £470 on packaging each year, 1/6th of their food budget. Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson is leading the campaign to tackle excess packaging and cut families’ bills.

We are paying three times over for excess packaging:

Ø     The cost of the unnecessary packaging at the checkout

Ø     The increased council taxes and landfill taxes

Ø     The environmental cost of more waste going to landfill for years to come

Action in Parliament

In the 2006-7 session of parliament Jo Swinson tabled a parliamentary motion that attracted cross-party support from 179 MPs. The motion has been re-tabled for the new session.

In October 2007 she presented a Private Members Bill, entitled Packaging (Reduction) Bill, to Parliament. The Government did not allocate the Bill sufficient Parliamentary time before the end of the 2006-07 session for it to proceed further than the presentation stage. 

The Liberal Democrats adopted new policy on the issue in September 2007.  The policy motion, Taking Action to Tackle Excess Packaging, called for: 

Ø       New legislation giving consumers the power to deposit packaging in stores before leaving for recycling

Ø       Amendments to strengthen existing packaging regulation to assist Trading Standards officers

Ø       The creation of a national body to tackle large-scale producers of excess packaging

Ø       A deposit scheme to be put in place for plastic carrier bags. In addition, the motion was amended to allow that consideration be given to a plastic bag tax

Ø       The introduction of binding packaging reduction targets in place of the current voluntary Courtauld Commitments

     Commenting on the Pre-Budget Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Steve Webb said: “With well over 3 million households in fuel poverty, insulating an extra 60,000 homes is an insulting drop in the ocean.

     “A massive programme of investment in home energy efficiency would have created thousands of jobs, cut fuel bills for hard-pressed families and pensioners and helped in the fight against climate change.

“Marginal improvements of the sort announced by the Chancellor are not up to the scale of the problem.”

Commenting on the proposed OFGEM review, Steve Webb said: “People want to see cuts in their bills now, but the proposed OFGEM review into why prices are not coming down will not even report until the winter is through.

“Yet again the Government has issued tough words about the activities of the energy companies but has done precisely nothing.”

Commenting on the plans for renewable energy, Steve Webb said: “This statement was a golden opportunity to invest in upgrading the whole National Grid, including new networks from the North Sea to the South of England. Instead we got yet more tinkering.

“Seriously de-carbonising our economy means a total shift in the way we generate our power. We need to see new incentives for investors today.”

Comment: I am pleased that Steve Webb made this announcement today, because it endorses our recent Notice of Motion that I moved at our Full Council on 18 September and was seconded by Councillor Les Bonner. The Notice of Motion called for a massive investment in home insulation as outlined by the LGA, investment in renewable energy, to end the pre-payment meter tariff and to increase the winter fuel allowance. The more pressure that is placed on this government; then hopefully they will listen.

Recently the chairman of the Business and Enterprise Select Committee said: he would be demanding an investigation by the regulator Ofgem into the practice of energy companies overcharging for direct debit payments.

Newspapers and the media have been full of articles, and I have referred to this matter on a number of occasions on this website. The Mail online claims, Britain’s energy suppliers are sitting on a £4billion cash pile they have taken from customers’ bank accounts without their consent.

The astonishing revelation came after Financial Mail on Sunday reported last week that British Gas was massively increasing monthly direct debit payments, even for householders whose accounts are in credit.

The newspapers notes that their revelations come on the eve of Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report, in which he is expected to announce stimulate the economy and improve the government’s electoral chances. Therefore, they believe that it is an ideal opportunity to act; however, perhaps if he fails he could possibly think again about the idea of windfall tax on the energy companies.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: ‘There is simply no excuse for this grossly unfair practice. Ministers must recognise this as the act of naked greed that it is, and compel the energy companies to help their most vulnerable customers.’ 

     Commenting on a survey by the British Gas Help the Aged Partnership, which shows that more than 4.5m pensioners sometimes stay or live in one room to cut down on heating costs, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Steve Webb said: “The mark of a civilised society ought to be that older people can live in security and dignity.

“Instead, millions are being forced by soaring fuel bills to live in a single room so that they can afford to keep warm. Ministers should hang their heads in shame over these findings. “The Government has been talking tough about energy companies for months, but has achieved virtually nothing.“The Government must force every energy company to spend part of its windfall profits on guaranteeing the best prices to its most vulnerable customers and on getting on with a massive programme of home insulation.“Pensioners must not suffer in future winters the way they are suffering now.”

    Over recent months and weeks, I have posted a number of articles about the major energy suppliers making massive profits out of the most vulnerable in our society.  

    I am pleased that Customer Focus are now supporting this claim, it will all add weight to the campaign to make sure that companies make their charges more equitable to their consumers.    

Firms make about half a billion pounds a year in extra charges from prepayment meters, Consumer Focus estimates. About 1,000 prepayment meters a day are being installed in households where people have got into debt over their energy bills, it says.

Industry body the Energy Retail Association says many people like the meters because they help them budget; however, the industry is now under pressure from the regulator, Ofgem, to cut the prepayment tariffs.  

Consumer Focus says some customers are being forced to use prepayment meters. It said energy firms are using customers who pay by prepayment meter to subsidise customers who can get the cheapest deals.  

“Companies could be making up to £550m a year from extra charges they charge on prepayment meters,” said the watchdog’s Jonathan Stearn.  

“The energy companies are making the most money out of those on prepayment meters, and often those are the people on the very lowest incomes.”  

In a speech to our Full Council on 18 September, I moved a notice of motion which was seconded by Councillor Les Bonner; the notice of motion called upon government to end the prepayment meter tariff along with other measures to help vulnerable people and was passed unanimously. I argued that the large energy supplier was profiteering out of the elderly, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, and with regards to prepayment meters, I said:  

“Around 5.7 million people will spend 10% of their annual income on energy bills by 2009, compared with around 3.8 million in 2007 and 2.4 million in 2005, the report said. Next year the average energy bill is set to climb to £1,406, from £676 in 2005. The report said big energy companies charge the five million people who pay for their energy through prepayment meters more than those who are billed quarterly. Most are from low income backgrounds and will pay up to £65 more by 2010.    

“Energy companies should not be allowed to charge prepayment meter customers “grotesquely high tariffs”, a cap should be put on prices, and “companies should use profits to pay for social and energy efficiency responsibilities”. 

There may be hope on the long distant horizon: or so it appears! Energy companies, now appear to be backtracking or is fairer to say being forced into a corner, however only one of them at the moment.

According to the Daily Mail, Britain’s second-biggest power supplier has promised to cut bills early next year in response to sharp falls in wholesale gas and electricity prices. I just beggars belief why it cannot be done immediately?

Scottish and Southern Energy, which is regularly among the cheapest suppliers, is the first to indicate a drop in tariffs.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy committee said yesterday that it is expecting price falls across the industry of 10 per cent – or around £140 a year. Analysts have suggested there will be scope for even bigger reductions in 2009.

Politicians from all political parties have also applied pressure, along with pressure groups and other individuals.

The wholesale price of gas has fallen by a third since its summer peak and electricity is down 28 per cent.

Ann Robinson, of uSwitch.com, said: ‘This is welcome news indeed. However, I urge consumers not to become complacent about energy usage this winter because this is still not a done deal.’

On the 18 September I made a speech at a meeting of the Full Council in the Grimsby Town Hall when I called on Government to help people to overcome the energy crisis; I also asked for greater investment into a renewable energy strategy. I said, “We are now facing a severe energy problem, and this government as done nothing in anyway to resolve the problem. They campaigned for the 1997 General Election on the platform that they would invest in renewable energy. What have they achieved: nothing! They have had plenty of time to have made a major impact.    

“We should be investing in tidal, wave and wind energy on both the North Sea and elsewhere. It is now time to look at a new deal for energy.” This government is failing the people of our generation, and it will have a major impact on future generations; therefore I fully support Steve Webb in his comments that he made today:  

Commenting on the Government’s announcement that it is to draw up a renewable energy strategy next year to replace plans for microgeneration targets, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Steve Webb said: “When it comes to renewable energy, the Government has fiddled while the planet burns.” 

Steve Webb went on to say: “It is unbelievable that after 11 years, the Labour Government is still talking about a strategy which will not be in place until 2009. 

“The priority must not be simply setting targets, but giving people the incentives they need to move ahead with small-scale renewable generation.”

      Commenting on the Government’s decision to include aviation and shipping in the emissions reduction target in the Climate Change Bill, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Steve Webb said: “Once again the Government is only doing the right thing after the threat of an embarrassing backbench rebellion.”

“Including aviation emissions in climate change targets is welcome but it is only half the story.

“If the Department for Transport continues to allow unchecked airport expansion we could find that growth in aviation will gobble up all of the available emissions, forcing the rest of the economy to make even more drastic cuts.

“We are seeing the consequences of the Government’s disjointed approach to climate change.

“The climate change department talks tough on aviation emissions, yet the transport department gives the go-ahead to airport expansion.

“We won’t get effective action on climate change until the Government as a whole recognises its common responsibility to address this critical issue.”

     Commenting on figures released by MoneyExpert.com, which show a massive rise in the number of people missing energy bill payments, Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg said: “Winter is drawing closer and four out of five single pensioners are destined to spend it in fuel poverty, with millions more people struggling or failing to meet the huge cost of their energy bills.” 

“The price of oil is dropping, but we cannot simply sit back and wait for energy companies to lower their bills.

“The Government must act immediately to help pensioners and families on low and middle incomes.

“It must reverse the unfair system that makes the first units of energy used the most expensive. Those who use less should pay lower prices.”