19 AUGUST 2022 | NEWS
The Labour Party has called for a parliamentary recall that would see MPs return to the House of Commons for the summer recess earlier than scheduled.
Labour have said that MPs should return to Parliament two weeks early in order to debate solutions for the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. This would see MPs return to work on 22 August, rather than the usual September date.
The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Thangam Debbonaire, has written to the Prime Minister to request the recall of Parliament in order to debate freezing the energy price cap, which is a plan Labour has proposed to help families during the cost-of-living crisis in the coming winter.
In the letter to outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Ms Debbonaire wrote: “Across Britain, people are having to make unthinkable choices about how to pay their bills, causing endless worry for households and businesses.
“That is why I am writing to you today to urge you to bring Parliament back early on Monday 22 August so that we can freeze the energy price cap now ahead of winter.
“Families deserve a government that is on their side, and is ready to take the action needed now to meet the scale of this national emergency.”
The letter comes after Labour released their plan to ease the cost of living pains. In the plan, the party calls for a freeze on the energy price cap, which limits the amount that energy companies can charge for their supply. The Labour Party would also introduce a further windfall tax on energy companies’ profits, which the says would raise £8 billion.
It follows another intervention by former Labour leader and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who wrote in a column for The Observer calling for Boris Johnson and both Tory leadership candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, to come to an agreement together over a solution for the energy crisis. He wrote: “Boris Johnson, Sunak and Truss must this week agree an emergency budget. If they do not, Parliament should be recalled to force them to do so.”
But some commentators have criticised this notion, saying that there is a caretaker Government in place following Boris Johnson’s resignation in July. They argue that Mr Brown’s suggestion of an Emergency Budget would be pointless, given that a new Prime Minister and Chancellor will be in place in a matter of weeks, and that a new Budget would be set shortly thereafter in the autumn regardless.
The Liberal Democrats have proposed a similar plan to deal with energy prices by calling for scrapping the proposed rise in the energy price cap, and also introducing a windfall tax on energy companies’ profits.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, said of their proposition: “This is an emergency, and the government must step in now.
“Energy bills have already gone up by £700 this year, and Conservative Ministers have barely lifted a finger to help.
“We simply cannot afford more inaction in the face of another even bigger rise in October.”
