Gas hob. Photo: Magdaehlers/CC
Gas hob. Photo: Magdaehlers/CC

Lindsey Morgan, Socialist Party and Unite member

It’s likely that the Tory government will U-turn on its proposal to lift the energy price cap from £2,500 to £3,000. Good news.

With falling wholesale energy prices, record profits for the energy companies, and tumbling support for the government, the Tories are weighing up whether they can get away with another rise.

Not raising the cap is a relief to working-class people. But it still doesn’t help those who are already having to choose between a damp and mouldy, cold home or going without meals.

While the £400 discount towards energy bills was nowhere near enough to protect people from fuel poverty, it provided some cushioning from the extortion. But the government will still scrap it when it ends in April.

Budget for billionaires

On 15 March, the Tories will announce their budget. As always, it will be a budget for the billionaires. The Tories are attempting to stave off rising workers’ struggle, at the same time as keeping their super-rich donors happy.

Labour has promised to save the average household £200 a year on energy bills. But bills have shot up £1,200 in the last year!

Labour is incapable of putting forward any meaningful proposals, because its main goal is showing the capitalist establishment that it is a safe pair of hands for them.

The Socialist Party argues for the immediate nationalisation of the energy companies, under the democratic control and management of working-class people – the only way to effectively control gas and electricity prices. We can’t control what we don’t own.

We could plan resources and production. We would be able to ensure a transition to green energy without workers losing jobs.

And we wouldn’t give a penny of compensation to the fat cats, whose bank accounts have grown fat on the back of our suffering and exploitation.