Tilting at windmills
Ed Miliband’s proposals to cut energy bills seem likely to do the opposite
ENERGY firms can be the sources of unpleasant surprises, as when they send out big energy bills that thud onto doormats. This week they were on the receiving end. On September 24th Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, made a startling proposal in his speech at his party’s annual conference: to freeze gas and electricity prices for 20 months after the next election, which is due to be held in May 2015. Evidently he calculates that bashing big business—and, he says, saving a typical consumer around £120 ($190) a year—will appeal to voters.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Tilting at windmills”
From the September 28th 2013 edition
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