30/10/2013 Party Political Broadcasts - Labour Party

Everyday, normal things that everybody does is where I use my

energy. I haven't got an extravagant lifestyle, I haven't got a hot tub

outside or anything like that. It's just a normal house. In essence, it

is a choice between heating and eating. We will still eat, we will

still have heating, it's just maybe the quality of the food that we eat

may not be as good as what we're eating at the moment. Hot water and

a comfortable living environment are things that you should be providing

for your children, for your child. You know in your head it's not

normal to put your child in a fleecy baby-grow and jumper to go to bed.

Or to go to bed at six or seven o'clock in the evening, because you

have nothing else to do, nothing to entertain yourself with and the flat

is cold and dark. I know it's going to be another winter where I'm going

to be left skint, I'm not going to have any money left. I'm going to be

constantly paying for my gas all the time. And it's scary, very scary.

You need to get a fair deal. The system is broken and we're going to

fix it. When you're trying to run a business, you're being as clear as

you can, as concise with your suppliers and customers. Then you've

got this industry which, really, is very unprofessional in terms of

trying to trip you up, basically. In fact, doing their very best to rip

you off. The blame lies with Government, for not having had the

strength to take this on. It's costing too much. I've got a

pension, but if you think about paying 160 or something like that

month... I don't consider myself poor. I manage. But with

difficulties. I think there are about six enormous companies. When

ministers are talking about competition, it's a bit of a joke,

really. It looks very, very much like a monopoly. The real test of

leadership is not whether you stand up to the weak. That's easy. They're

making huge profits for their shareholders, but people are turning

off their heating and unscrewing their light bulbs. The Government

sit back and say, well, they can't do anything about it. I'm sure they

can do something. But they don't wish to do anything about it. The

real test of leadership is whether you stand up to the strong. If we

win that election in 2015, the next Labour Government will freeze gas

and electricity prices until the start of 2017.