Free market folly fuels energy crisis

With regard to the energy crisis, surely the answer must be increased storage of gas when prices are lower?

This is something the utility companies are reluctant to do because they would have to spend some of their vast profits and curtail the execs’ bonuses.

It seems to me the obvious answer is taking the energy companies back into public ownership. Any responsible government would do this so they would then be in a better position to regulate the costs of supply for homes, business and industry in a “global economy”.

The profits and bonuses the private companies leech would cover the costs of the facilities needed for storage and future investment. Privatisation of essential utilities does not work.

J Randall, Morley, West Yorks

With the continuing energy crisis we are now seeing the absolute folly of Margaret Thatcher’s free market strategy for gas and electricity in the late 1980s. I take it the investors in these now failing suppliers will still receive their payouts while everyone else has to dig deep in their pockets just to heat their homes this winter? Surely, now is the time to re-nationalise all our utilities and take back control of costs and prices? I thought that’s what Brexit was all about – or is it all just another part of the massive Tory lie that conned the British people?

John Irving, Leeds

I was born at the start of the Second World War and never in my life have I seen this country in such a dreadful state.

Wherever I look things are on the verge of collapse, while ministers appear on TV desperately trying to defend the indefensible, from the abysmal handling of the early pandemic to a perfect storm of rocketing energy, food, travel and petrol prices.

Then there are falling incomes for millions of people and shortages of labour everywhere.

Johnson needs to be replaced.

B Evans, Greenfield Rhondda Cynon Taf

The Government allowed the energy companies to sell off the national strategic reserves so consumers are vulnerable to every fluctuation in international wholesale prices. The Tories are so short term in everything they do, saving £1 now as opposed to £100 in five years time.

George Ord, Nottingham

People are going to die this winter because of high energy costs. Heating your home isn’t a luxury and should be completely VAT-free. And, of course, MPs themselves won’t have to make the choice between heating or eating. S T Vaughan, Yardley Wood Birmingham

The Conservatives should rename themselves the Ostrich Party because every time there is a problem they head for the seaside and bury their heads in the sand. Wouldn’t it be a sight to behold if they held their Cabinet meetings at the beach?

Len Goodwin, Doncaster

At this time of high energy prices, would it not be appropriate to consider the environmental damage caused by the manufacture of steel and chemicals? The need for jobs must be weighed against damage caused to health and the environment before any state aid should even be considered. Howard Williams, Swansea