Martin Vander Weyer: Freeze gas bills, freeze fuel duty – and one day we’ll all freeze in the dark

‘We need successful energy companies in Britain, we need them to invest for the future,’ said Ed Miliband in his conference speech, as though channelling my thoughts at the very moment I was writing last week’s item on the lack of a national energy strategy. Then he ruined it: ‘If we win the election, the next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017. That’s what I mean by a government that fights for you.’

And that’s what we all mean by politicians making ill-conceived promises for short-term gain. George Osborne’s response? ‘Any politician would love to tell you that they can wave a magic wand and freeze your energy bill… Companies would just jack up their prices before the freeze… And companies would not invest… and build the power stations we need — so in the long term, prices go up. That’s Labour’s offer: get hammered with high prices now, get hammered with high prices later… But don’t worry, there’s a phony freeze in between.