Chancellor says people should cut energy use: 'There is war on our continent'

[Emrys]

5. This is an utterly disgusting line,

first trotted out by Johnson on one of the few occasions when he did what was supposed to be his job the other day.

Trying to capitalize on the war in Ukraine as a shield for the government's shortcomings is despicable. One hint is the fact that other European countries are facing the same challenges, but the UK is worst affected.

It doesn't help that Truss agreed to the rundown of gas storage, which has left us forced to import to sustain supplies rather than building up useful stockpiles for the winter.

It certainly doesn't help that the Tories' infatuation with private ownership of utilities means that the companies' stockholders get prize premiums off the backs of many of the rest of us who face astronomic bills, with the promise of more to come.

A windfall tax would be a short-term and only partial remedy, but the Tories are resistant even to that. Large-scale restructuring of our energy markets is urgently needed.

The electricity distribution firms that are struggling need to be told that since they're indicating their businesses are effectively uneconomic and borderline worthless, the harsh hand of the market means they must be taken into public ownership, which will relieve them of their burdens. Faced with that threat, they may yet find solutions that don't mean we have to endlessly bail them out while we face sitting hungry in the cold and dark.

But if they don't ...