Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said ministers will consider whether standing charges can be removed from gas bills to ease cost pressures on households.
Speaking in Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Burnham told the Commons he had asked Chancellor John Healey and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to examine scrapping the charges and to report back to MPs as soon as possible.
Jackdaw Gas Field Approval Defended
Mr Burnham was responding to a question about the Government's decision to approve the Jackdaw gas field, a move he defended as a "pragmatic decision" that the previous Tory government had "messed up".
"That's why there was the delay, because they didn't do the process properly. And we've made a pragmatic decision, Mr Speaker, that will allow us to do two things," he said.
Bridge to Renewable Future
Mr Burnham said the approval would allow the Government to "build a bridge to a renewable future" by investing in renewables and bringing forward clean energy. He added that the decision would help "substantially de-link gas and electricity prices" to bring bills down in this Parliament.
"It will also allow us, Mr Speaker, to do more to help people with bills. I can tell the House today that I have asked the Chancellor and the Energy Secretary (Miatta Fahnbulleh) to look at whether we can remove standing charges from gas bills and to report back to this House at the earliest opportunity," he said.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the Labour Government for "dithering" for two-and-a-half years to approve Jackdaw, and called for Labour to repeal its ban on all new oil and gas licences.
"We have the resources, the expertise and the people," she said. "What we have lost is the confidence to make tough decisions."
