The Labour government has set out a series of new measures this week to deliver energy security and sovereignty for the UK in response to the instability in the Middle East. 

With the UK facing the second fossil fuel price spike in less than 5 years, the only route to a secure energy sector and economy is through clean power. 

The Government is doubling down on its mission for clean power with a series of policies that will accelerate the roll-out of renewables and help to electrify home heating and transport to protect families and businesses from fossil fuel price shocks. 

The package announced today covers major planning reforms to speed up the deployment of clean power, more measures to encourage households to take up solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps, as well as significant steps towards delinking electricity from the price of gas. 

The cost of living is the number one issue families are facing. That’s why Labour brought energy bills down by 7% this month and will continue to stand by families as the impacts of instability in the Middle East become clear. 

Measures announced this week include: 

• Faster upgrades for residents in social housing, by putting an extra £100m into the £1.2bn Social Housing Fund and delivering up to 57,000 solar installations this year. 

• Increasing the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant available to households on heating oil and LPG to £9,000, so they can switch to cheaper cleaner heating. 

• Expanding Great British Energy’s ‘solar for schools’ programme to an extra 100 schools, so they can fit solar panels this summer. 

• Partnering with Mayors and local authorities to pilot a new scheme which will make plug-in solar panels available to low-income households. 

But I know Crewe & Nantwich residents are concerned about the prices they’re facing at the petrol station. While the Government are taking the necessary steps to provide us with long-term energy security, they must go further in the short term and tackle some of the profiteering that is happening, as well as directly supporting hard-pressed families and small businesses in our constituency in respect of rising costs. 

That’s why I spoke in Parliament recently about the importance of the Government cracking down on profiteering in the short-term and supporting hard-pressed families and small businesses with energy costs.