Why ‘absurd’ Labour won’t cut your energy bills
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
The Government could cut your energy bills by drilling more in the North Sea, says shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho, but chooses not to; ideologically wedded to net zero, they instead prefer to view production of oil and gas as “climate vandalism”.
Coutinho scriticises Ed Milliband for failing to use Britain’s own resources to keep energy cheap, and that in many cases his drive for net zero has ‘eradicated common sense’ when it comes to energy policy.
Elsewhere, Gordon Rayner updates Tim and Rachel on the latest in the Morgan McSweeney stolen phone saga, with the Met Police announcing that they are reopening the investigation into the theft.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.1 | The government is choosing for your energy bills to be as high as they are. |
| 0:14.1 | So says the Shadow Energy Secretary on today's daily tea. |
| 0:17.5 | With the Iran war sending prices soaring, Claire Coutinho tells us we must drill baby drill in the North Sea. |
| 0:24.0 | But as we ask her, how would that bring down our bills? And Kemi Badock says the curious case of Morgan McSweeney's stolen phone is fishy. |
| 0:34.1 | With the Met Police reopening their investigation into the theft, we run through the questions that Stama's former chief of staff still needs to answer. |
| 0:42.2 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me, Tim Stanley. And me, Rachel Johnson. |
| 1:00.2 | Claire Coutinho, thank you for joining us on The Daily Tea. |
| 1:08.0 | I've got a very almost moronic first question, which is about the price of gas and the price of energy. And why? Can you explain in simple terms? Because if I don't know, maybe people listening won't know, why is the price of energy and why? Can you explain in simple terms? Because if I don't know, |
| 1:12.1 | maybe people listening won't know, why is the price of our energy set globally? |
| 1:17.9 | Thank you so much for having me. So it isn't set globally, but it is set regionally. So you have a |
| 1:23.1 | separate price, for example, for gas in the US than you do in Europe. |
| 1:30.1 | And actually, the UK does have a separate price as well. |
| 1:34.4 | However, the UK and European prices are very close because it's also connected. |
| 1:36.2 | You have a lot of flows going back and forth. |
| 1:41.6 | Now, people say that if you drill more in the North Sea, it won't affect prices. |
| 2:02.4 | That's likely to be true, not necessarily true. But the point that we've been making and that is completely ignored by some of the most fervent sort of greeny supporters is that you earn a huge amount of tax revenue from the North Sea. And if you earn that tax revenue, you can do things with it. You could use it to help people by cutting their bills, for example. |
| 2:09.7 | So the independent analysis is that you could make 25 billion pounds in tax over the next 10 years if you use the North Sea. And if you wanted to, you could put all of that into cutting bills. |
| 2:14.1 | But there is evidence that the North Sea Basin is pretty mature, has been pretty well mined out already. |
| 2:22.0 | And so your supposed gains from actually drill baby drill there won't come up with enough |
| 2:28.9 | supply to make a big difference or to accrue those revenues. |
| 2:34.2 | So I disagree. I think it will make a big difference. Like I said, the independent view |
... |
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