DUMB, DIM & DIMMER
Minister: Family went without heating
A CABINET minister has moaned about struggling to heat his home, before saying the Government would find it hard to ease the impact of energy price rises.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who earns £115,000 a year, bleated: “Where I live, we’re on oil-fired heating. I’ve seen that change directly in the price of oil – and actually the ability to get it.
“My family went a few days where we had no oil, just waiting for the suppliers and seeing the very big increase in price.”
He then added the Government was powerless to help bring down costs.
Mr Lewis, top right, said: “We can’t completely nullify the impacts of global markets and global pressure, for example, on energy, which is obviously the main focus at the moment for most people.
“But we will put in the support that we can, as and when we can.” His comments come after the Daily Star told yesterday how policing minister Kit Malthouse had whinged about the cost-of-living crisis making life “tricky” for his family.
And mega-rich energy boss Bill Bullen came under fire for telling people to just use less gas and electricity.
New figures suggest almost half of adults were struggling to pay their energy bills even before the 54% increase to the price cap came into effect this week.
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “We need to see legislative measures if North Sea oil and gas companies and petrol retailers are experiencing record profits and not passing any of those savings on to customers.”
Households are also being hit with tax rises and reductions in state pandemic support, which increases costs for businesses and leads to higher prices for customers.
Petrol and diesel prices have also hit record highs due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.