Oral Answers to Questions

Daisy Cooper Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

Q7.   Three million households are in debt on their energy bills, pushing up everyone’s energy bills by around £50 a year to cover it. As a result, energy companies and Ofgem are ringing the alarm bell that the almost £7 billion of energy debt in this country is now undermining the sector’s ability to make the investments that could lower bills in the long term. Will the Prime Minister be more ambitious than the VAT cut on electricity and reviewing the standing charge on gas, and introduce an essential energy guarantee, where 50% of average use is charged at a cheaper rate permanently, to cut bills and help families and the energy sector to escape Britain’s energy debt crisis?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady makes a very strong point. Getting energy bills down, gas and electric, is at the very top of my list of priorities. It matters for households. She described the number of people in debt, which is an appalling situation for so many people to be in. It matters to businesses, too. Businesses are struggling with the cost of energy and to get grid connections. That is why the energy sector needs significant reform, and we will make it. We will go further, on the back of the VAT cut, and we will set out more in due course.