Empty promise

When David Cameron denounced Labour plans to reduce energy bills as “living in a Marxist universe”, he was being honest.

The Conservatives privatised British Gas and electricity boards because they quite deliberately wanted private companies to be able to make a profit out of customers. After all, Cameron’s Tories are not the kind of people who have difficulty paying their gas or electricity bills, they are the kind of people who buy a second or third home with the profits from their portfolio of energy company shares.

During this election, There sa May has suddenly claimed that she wants to reduce energy prices – although the Tories haven’t done that during the seven years they have been in power, and have voted against it when Labour has called parliamentary debates on energy prices and she still won’t admit that Labour has been right to demand it while the Tories have denounced it.

When she did this Uturn, the stock market price of shares in the energy companies went down because investors were concerned that she might actually intend to curb their profiteering.

But when the Conservative manifesto was announced last Thursday, energy company shares bounced back and the stock market valuation of Centrica, which owns British Gas, went up by £450million in a single day.

When investors heard the manifesto they were reassured that Theresa May’s plans were purely for election purposes and would have little effect on power bills.

Those smart folks in the City of London, who live or die careerwise on their ability to predict profits, know what value to attach to Theresa May’s promises – nothing.

WILLIAM HARRIS Lygon Road, Edinburgh It is surprising that Theresa May should wish to make the elderly pay for their care out of the value of their homes. With her husband working in the international investment market, where taxefficiency is paramount, surely he would have been able to explain to her that the plan is flawed.

Any pensioner feeling at risk from this scheme could easily transfer their property to a private equity release company and then spend the payment or give it away some years before they go into care.

This means that there would be no finance for the government to receive.

BRUCE D SKIVINGTON Pairc a Ghliob, Strath, Gairloch