James Grundy MP: Decisive act to control energy bills

This is a yearly event, where

MPs and party members meet to discuss the political matters of the day.

Some MPs will attend their conferences, others will attend to matters in their constituencies or attend local events.

Conference season will end shortly, and MPs will return to Parliament to carry on working, having either consulted with their colleagues at conference or with their constituents in their seats.

Over the last month or so, I have been receiving a great deal of correspondence over increasing energy bills, both from businesses and from ordinary residents.

Due to the economic consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, energy prices worldwide have increased massively.

It was clear the current energy price cap was not working for ordinary residents, and some businesses, who were not covered by the cap, were contacting me with new quotes for next year given to them indicating a tenfold increase in energy bills.

This would simply have bankrupted every business, as well as leading to unpayable bills for local residents.

I was pleased to see the Government act decisively to control energy bills, with the average bill for residents being limited to a maximum of £2,500 per year, and similar price controls put in place for businesses.

I am very glad to say the emails on this issue stopped once the Government stepped in to stabilise energy prices.

The Government has allocated tens of billions to the price cap, which will remain in place for the next two years.

These are simply staggering sums but there is no alternative that would secure the ongoing viability of businesses or affordable domestic energy bills.

In the long term however, for the international energy market to stabilise, there must be an end to the havoc caused by the warmongering tyrant Vladimir Putin, and we must hope for a swift resolution to the war in Ukraine, and God willing, a Ukrainian victory.

I am also pleased that the Government is seeking to invest in increased domestic energy production.

As I have observed before, energy security is national security.

We must dramatically increase our oil and gas production, and we must also invest in new nuclear, both in the traditional manner, and with new SMRs, or small modular reactors.

There is much work to do. When we return to Parliament, we must get on with that work and the sooner, the better.