A Labour activist has condoned skyrocketing energy prices despite GB News host Charlie Peters pointing out ballooning bills are weighing heavily on Britons.
Aisha Ali Khan, who joined GB News this afternoon, clashed with the presenter live on-air as they debated the impact of net zero on Britons today as well as future generations.
Ms Khan argued: “We do need to find a balance, because obviously a lot of the changes that have been proposed by Ed Miliband, a lot of people are still not fully on board.
“It’ll be interesting because obviously Richard Tice has mentioned a few things…” she added, with Nigel Farage’s deputy leader being announced as the party’s energy spokesman earlier today.
“Obviously that’s all great when you’re not in power, but we’ll see, if Reform is ever elected, how those policies are going to be implemented,” she continued.
But when Charlie asked the activist if her words meant she was “fully on board with Ed Miliband and his agenda”, with Britain’s energy prices being some of the highest in the developing world, she refused to answer directly.
Last month, Ofgem increased its price cap slightly – affecting millions households across the UK as temperatures plunged.
Prices on variable tariffs rose by 0.2 per cent – the same as around a £3 jump for a household using an average amount of gas and electricity.
‘You’re comparing saving money to saving lives – and I think saving lives always trump everything,’ the GB News guest said
|
GB NEWS
Campaigners have criticised Labour for the extra energy costs for British households during a time when many are enduring freezing temperatures – including vulnerable Britons – to make up for new “green and clean” initiatives.
The activist told GB News: “I think it’s important that we are aware and the science has been there for many decades. The damage that’s been done to our planet and how important it is to safeguard our planet for the future generations. My son’s 22.
“I want to see him growing up in the healthy world as well as his grandchildren as well. So it’s a responsibility we all share, and it’s important that we take on board all the recommendations that are backed by science.”
“Even if it means significantly higher energy prices than some sort of peer economies to the United Kingdom?” Charlie questioned.
LABOUR’S NET ZERO ‘MADNESS’ – READ MORE:
Ed Miliband and Gavin Newsom sign a clean energy agreement in the Foreign Office yesterday
|
PA
“You still back those plans even as people are struggling to feed their families, heat their homes?” he added, with a tone of incredulity.
But Ms Khan argued the Ulez charges proved effective, which sought to minimise car usage to improve the air quality and pollution rates.
She added: “You’re comparing saving money to saving lives – and I think saving lives always trump everything.
“Again, Charlie, I’m not saying yes, let’s pay higher prices. We do need to find solutions that are going to to benefit everyone.
“And there’s been lots of different ideas on the tables. We’ve had obviously wind farms, there’s quite a few windmills near where I live now, and honestly, people hardly notice them.”
However, she added Britons needed to “open our minds” to ways that will help the planet in the long-term, even hundreds of years into the future.
But Charlie’s argument has echoed that of Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s former aide and now-Republican candidate across the pond in California.
After the state’s Democrat Governor – and Mr Hilton’s electoral rival – Gavin Newsom struck a deal with Ed Miliband with a set of new net zero rules yesterday, the Republican raged: “What a genius idea that is: the UK, with the highest electricity prices pretty much in the world, teaming up with California, the highest electricity prices anywhere in America apart from Hawaii.”
He vowed to “rip it up” if he won the governorship on November 3.
Hitting out at the decision, US President Donald Trump said: “Gavin is a loser. Everything he’s touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell and his environmental work is a disaster.
“If they did to the UK what he did to California, this will not be a very successful venture.”