PM ‘steals’ Miliband plan to cap energy prices

ED MILIBAND’S allies have accused Theresa May of “stealing” his flagship plan for an energy price cap for the Conservative manifesto as part of her attempt to win seats in Labour’s northern heartlands.

Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, yesterday gave the strongest indication yet that the Tories would put the policy at the heart of their mani- festo as he promised to take “muscular and strong action” to protect consumers.

He accused energy companies of “exploiting” people and said that the Government would act to stop the “flagrant mistreatment” of customers.

It is one of a series of policies in the manifesto, which will be published next month, that will target working-class voters.

An ally of Mr Miliband said: “These policies were widely panned by the Conservatives as Marxist interventions. Now Theresa’s nicking them.”

The Prime Minister needs to make significant inroads in the North to achieve her ambition of securing an increased majority at the General Election in July.

An analysis by The Daily Telegraph found there are 36 Labour constituencies that voted for Brexit and which have a majority of less than 5,000. Labour MPs are privately admitting that many of these seats are already likely to be “gone”.

Mr Clark told MPs yesterday: “If the competitors in this industry don’t see this as behaviour that is damaging consumers, I do – and I will act. The response will be muscular and strong and will apply to all of the companies who are disadvantaging consumers.”

The Daily Telegraph understands that Mrs May will draw inspiration from Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 election manifesto as she prepares to abandon some of David Cameron’s flagship policies.

Mrs Thatcher’s manifesto, which ushered in 18 years of Conservative government, deliberately avoided making “lavish promises” and instead set out a “broad framework” for the country.

The Tories are drawing up a “very short” manifesto which sets out Mrs May’s vision for the nation and tells a “clear story” about the challenges facing Britain.

It is likely to be in stark contrast to Mr Cameron’s in 2015, which ran to 84 pages and was more than 30,000 words long.

The 1979 Conservative

‘These policies were panned as Marxist. Now Theresa’s nicking them’

manifesto was just 32 pages and 8,696 words long.

The Prime Minister refused to rule out dropping Mr Cameron’s commitments to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid and to cut net migration to “tens of thousands”.

She is also considering scrapping the “triple lock” on state pension rises after warnings by senior Conservatives that it is becoming unsustainable.

The manifesto, which will be published next month, will set out the Prime Minister’s broad aspirations for Brexit but will not detail her plans amid concerns that doing so would bind her hand during negotiations.

It is being drawn up by Nick Timothy, Mrs May’s chief of staff, alongside Ben Gummer, the Cabinet Office minister, John Godfrey, Mrs May’s director of policy and George Freeman, head of the No 10 policy unit.

A source said: “The thinking is that it will be like the 1979 manifesto – very short, tells a story, clear about the problems that will be solved.

“It will be more thematic. It’s more of a philosophy, a prospectus. We need to seize this moment to be really honest about the scale of the challenge as well as the opportunities.

“We’re going to set out a coherent account of an economy and society that works for everyone.”