Shadow Minister attacks Welsh Government following energy cap price rise
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Energy, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, has accused the Welsh Government of “economic mismanagement” and called for bold action from the next Prime Minister to address the UK’s energy price crisis.
Her comments were made following the massive hike in energy prices announced on Friday by the regulator Ofgem.
The energy price cap is set to rise by 80% by October, pushing the average household’s yearly bill in the UK up from £1,971 to £3,549.
Following the announcement, First Minister Mark Drakeford criticised Westminster’s “failure to address this crisis” and called for an emergency budget to raise windfall taxes on energy companies’ profits and freeze prices.
Ofgem also warned the UK Government it must act urgently to “match the scale of the crisis we have before us”, with recent research suggesting almost 70% of households in Wales could be in fuel poverty by January.
Radical action
In defence of Westminster’s handling of the crisis, Mrs Finch-Saunders, MS for Aberconwy, said: “I am proud of the £37 billion worth of support that the UK Conservative Government has provided to help tackle the rising cost of living.
“However, as we go into an uncertain winter, it is vital that the new Prime Minister takes bold and radical action in their support for the hardest hit across the United Kingdom.
“A quarter of a century of Labour’s economic mismanagement and poor policy making has left Welsh workers with the lowest pay packet in Britain and the highest rate of child poverty in the United Kingdom.
“If Labour ministers had not wasted money on ineffective schemes such as the NEST programme, the people of Wales would have been better placed to deal with this financial uncertainty.”
The Nest scheme is a Welsh Government programme which aims to help people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and assist households in accessing benefits.
Fuel poverty
Following confirmation of the energy cap increase, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi suggested that people across the UK earning around £45,000 annually could struggle to cope with soaring living costs as households prepare for another painful price hike over the winter.
He said things will be “really hard” for middle-earners, as well as society’s most vulnerable.
Mr Zahawi also told the Telegraph newspaper he refused to rule out freezing the energy cap as suggested by Labour, insisting “nothing is off the table”.
New research, published by the University of York last week, predicted Wales will be among the hardest hit of the nations and regions of the UK by fuel poverty this winter.
The study shows that 68.7% of households in Wales are expected to be trapped in fuel poverty by January, compared to the UK average of 65.8%.
London will see the least impact, but even there over half – 56.4% – will be in fuel poverty by January.
In Northern Ireland, 76.3% will find themselves in those same conditions.
Overall, an estimated 45 million Britons will be forced into fuel poverty and struggle to pay energy bills this winter, the research found.
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I want this woman tested for substance and alcohol use. She can not be serious, “proud” of what Westminster has done. She is in an alternate reality. Every charity, and financial expert are warning of catastrophe to come, following the inactivity of the UK Gov. And she places the blame on our Gov . I have listened to the Tory’s in Cymru talk down our Gov at every opportunity for several years now, but to blame the Gov of Cymru for mismanagement leading to this crisis beggars belief. Words now fail me.
Cameron’s “cut the green crap” cost us £1.5Bn. Any comment Janet?
Has she any comments on Welsh water being shipped to the South of England?
I hope the Welsh people see what they tories in Wales are. Grifters. Their political strat of blaming labour for everything that they have done wrong in WM is utterly incredible. The utter lies about Welsh gov, we need them out totally. And I vote Plaid.
This old bird has no idea how ironic she sounds. Or is she just the most subtle comedian in a long time ? Her capacity for deflecting and ignoring reality is just mind boggling. So I have concluded it is an act, but it does need a refinement of the humour as right now it’s going straight over most people’s heads and irritating us.
This politician is trying to deflect from the patent failure of Tory policy. They proclaim the wealthy and regard the poor as indolent. Their views are founded in the eighteenth century when the poor were held to be responsible for their own poverty. Economic decline in Wales long pre-dates devolution. I can only gather she’s proud of her party’s recent shenanigans and ineffectiveness at Westminster. The Welsh Government does not get everything right but this attack is cheap and hypocritical.
Filch-Blunders does realise Y Senedd does not control Ofgem or indeed the UK budget?
Her party 🤡 does in Wasteminster. Both there and the Tories in Wales need to take responsibility for their own incompetence.
Does this person understand just how ridiculous she makes herself look, I thought RT was bad, but JFS doesn’t even have a bar to raise.
This is right up there with RT criticising Drakeford for not commenting on Salman Rushdie’s stabbing.
There is lots of criticism from the Tory’s at the moment led by the Torygraph and others. It’s clearly a strategy sent down the wire from Conservative Central Office. The idea is to deflect criticism from their own mishandling of everything they have touched. It is pure gaslighting and the Welsh people will not fall for it. We only have to look at the 12 years of Tory Westminster ruler – it’s been catastrophic for the U.K.
JFS – always on the side of the people with her electric ⚡️ well thought 💭 out interventions and ability to pug in to real issues so early in this debate ahead of everyone else. The good folk of Llandudno are just so lucky 🍀 to have such a ⭐️ In our legislative body.
I’ve not heard of this NEST scheme, which J F-S thinks was “wasted money”.
The article tells me “The Nest scheme is a Welsh Government programme which aims to help people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and assist households in accessing benefits.”
Erm, this sounds like a good scheme to me. A Government actively helping out its people.
You hit the nail on the head there Nobby, “a scheme helping people”, the exact opposite to what her party in London is doing, so it must be a waste. Now perhaps she would prefer the money was going to a private firm to asses the needy, or a contract to produce a “world leading” app to track progress on HS2.
The nest scheme replaces inefficient boilers with efficient ones, adds insulation and even installs solar panels – its a scheme that has benefited thousands of people. It should be massively expanded and not cut.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, I hope the people who voted for this lame excuse for a politician feel the same way!
She talks about ‘a quarter of a CENTURY of Labour’ blah blah blah. Nothing about a quarter of a MILLENNIA of Wales telling Tories that WE DO NOT WANT THEM!
A quarter of a century? That’s 25 years for Labour.
Pah, they are lagging miles behind the Tories. They’ve managed to foul up everything in just 12 years.