UKIP pledges to review utility ownership

Anti-EU party also promises to repeal Climate Change Act

UKIP would review the ownership of British utilities and repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act in a bid to cut household bills, according to the party’s general election manifesto.

The party, which has seen its support plunge since the general election was called, published its manifesto yesterday (Thursday), concluding a suspension to campaigning agreed by the political parties following Monday night’s terrorist attack in Manchester.

UKIP says it would “not hesitate” to table legislation to address any excesses uncovered by the review, which would examine the impact on consumers of steadily rising energy prices as well as utilities’ ownership and profits.

The review would complement measures to remove VAT from domestic fuel and scrap renewable energy subsidies, which it says add a combined £170 to the average household bill, according to the manifesto.

UKIP also promises to break with what it labels a cross-party consensus backing the Climate Change Act, which forces the UK to close “perfectly good” coal-fired power stations and creates a “lose-lose situation” that only UKIP is “awake to”.

The party pledges to scrap the act and support a “diverse energy market” based on coal, nuclear, conventional and shale gas, oil, solar and hydro. Renewables would only be supported when they can be delivered at ‘competitive’ prices, states the manifesto.

Repealing the Climate Change Act and leaving the EU would also have the spin off benefit of reducing high commercial energy prices and preventing energy-intensive businesses, like steel and aluminium, from being driven offshore.

UKIP also says that it would be “foolhardy” not to maximise domestic energy production by failing to back shale gas production, which the party promises to invest in.

The manifesto also says that UKIP would repeal the EU’s Water Framework Directive, which it says has “led to serious flooding in many parts of the country by preventing river dredging”.