Former energy select committee chair Tim Yeo has backed Lord Turner to head the Conservatives mooted review of energy costs if the party is re-elected to government following the general election.
The Conservative manifesto includes a pledge to launch a review of energy costs alongside the promise to cap householders’ bills.
Yeo, who stood down as a Conservative MP at the 2015 general election and was a shadow environment secretary when the Tories were in opposition, said Turner’s appointment to chair the review would bolster business’ confidence in the exercise.
“Adair Turner did a very effective job at chairing the Climate Change Committee (CCC),” said Yeo.
“He has a good understanding of economics, gives very clear argument and he looks at the evidence. He’s not a Conservative, but he has the confidence of the business world.”
As well as the CCC, Turner is also an ex-director of the CBI and chaired both the Labour government’s Pensions Commission and the Financial Services Authority until it was axed in 2013.
Yeo, who chaired the energy and climate change committee from 2010 to 2015, also called for the review to be wrapped within a maximum of six months after the general election, assuming that the Conservatives win an outright majority.
“This can’t drag on too quickly, particularly as the issues are very well understood. You don’t have to go back to first principles if you have an experienced chair,” he commented.