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Energy Regulations (Consumer Prices)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on introducing the debate and on his careful analysis of the problems that we are facing. I welcome what he had to say, not least because he anticipated some of the things that I wanted to say myself, and because he repeated some of the points that I made not just in the debate in this Chamber in January this year, but on 23 January last year, when I warned about some of the things that happened in the course of the year and the winter. The policies of the energy companies and the role of Ofgem, which we will want to consider and which were touched on by the hon. Gentleman, have not avoided what seems to be a crass undermining of the Government's policy on inflation. The fact is that millions of people in Britain, many thousands of them in my constituency, are finding that their quality of life has diminished. My hon. Friends who are present this morning have raised those matters again and again. We welcome the fact that today's Daily Record dealt in some detail with the issues that we are debating; we welcome that transparency. I am also pleased that the paper's leader, although its coverage was largely encouraged by Alistair Buchanan, who does a very good public relations job for Ofgem, made clear the position that we are in:"““Fuel prices are too high, simple as that. Companies making multi-million profits have raised prices again and again over the last couple of years.””" The leader went on to mention that Alistair Buchanan"““says there is a 'bonanza' out there.””" To be fair to Mr. Buchanan, he was promoting the idea, which I want to deal with shortly, and which the hon. Member for Twickenham addressed, that switching is the answer for many people. If there is a bonanza out there, it seems to me that it is not for the most vulnerable people, who have to pay the additional prices, or for those who have been the subject of so many studies, including the one by Save the Children, to which I shall return if I have time. More and more of the poorest people must deal with problems caused by price increases. If there is a bonanza, I can see evidence only of the one that the energy companies are enjoying to the hilt.