By Isle of Wight Observer
It’s far harder to use less energy than to cut back on eating out, groceries and holidays. The price of diesel rose 7 per cent this week, and the bond markets turned on Burnham. For the Labour Party it seems the grass won’t be any greener with Andy in charge. The nights are drawing in, and thankfully there won’t be any more wildfires. When it’s cold and the wind is howling, heating your home is non-negotiable.
So when is a cap not a cap? When is a promise not a promise? Starmer and Burnham told us our energy bills would come down. So why is the latest cap £1,723 for a typical household? Who are they trying to kid, and what’s the point of a cap when they keep increasing it? If you complained about your energy bills when the Tories were in power, they suggested you switch suppliers. Eventually, they accepted that the “market” didn’t really work, rendering that advice pointless.
Due to government investment in wind and solar, we often produce excess electricity in the UK, so why does it cost so much? As with trains, water, and the unloved Wightlink, privatisation didn’t benefit consumers; it’s the shareholders and senior executives who are cock-a-hoop. Where they exist, the regulators are complicit in the whole rotten business. To add insult to injury, China has vastly cheaper energy costs than ours, so do most other parts of the world. Next time a politician tells you “it’s a global market”, remember they’re telling porkies. Government policies are directly responsible for higher energy prices. Ignore them when they blame Trump and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The UK was the world’s fifth-largest oil producer when my eldest child was born in 1986. Now we’re importing the stuff at record prices. Billions of barrels still lie in the North Sea, enough to last until 2050. Maybe Andy will be forced to get on and drill it? Vast taxes on North Sea oil and gas were squandered on our bloated welfare bill. Politicians love to pay people to stay home doing nothing. Whatever else they say, getting people off welfare and back to work seems way down Andy’s priority list. That means Labour will struggle to find the money urgently needed for defence spending.
Norway developed a sovereign wealth fund from its North Sea energy that’s now worth £1.5 trillion. How they must laugh at Britain’s stupidity. Last week I asked why Burnham had a bounce in the polls because I just don’t see what he’s done to justify it. Do you understand his silly “Number 10 in the North” policy? My theory is he’s fretting about leaving his dog unattended up there for more than a couple of days.
Last week, to secure his train journey home, he handed London–Manchester train drivers an almost 4 per cent pay rise. If they work a fifth day, they get £720. Top-earning drivers get an astonishing £80,000 a year. At least they’ll face higher taxes, just like the rest of us. Burnham already seems out of his depth; his only party trick is positive thinking.
Labour’s new ‘mansion tax’ will allow HMRC inspectors the right to enter homes to assess them for higher council tax. Refusing entry will attract fines. To begin with, just 165,000 homes in bands F, G and H face the surcharge. They claim it’ll apply to 1 per cent of homes, but they’re always the party of greed and jealousy; that’s what socialism is. If you’ll keep a close eye on their plans, they’ll get more of your money, too.
The bond markets are worried because, so far, there’s no plan whatsoever to reduce debt and get the economy growing. The Burnham Bounce might not last long.