Commenting on the announcement by Liz Truss today (Thursday 8 September) of plans to freeze energy bill rises through increased borrowing, Metro Mayor Dan Norris said: "Where Labour leads, the Tories inevitably follow. I'm pleased the Prime Minister has adopted Labour's plan for an energy price freeze - this is the scale of intervention we need to see from government and will come as a relief for West of Englanders worried about the winter months ahead.

"I'm also pleased the Government has finally heeded my calls for a fund to be set up to protect West of England consumers of heating oil who've really struggled this year, but as always, the devil will be in the detail. But to choose to make local people foot the entire bill for this energy package instead of those oil and gas giants making such obscene profits is beyond comprehension and wholly irresponsible. Every penny Ms Truss refuses to raise in windfall taxes is money she will be loading on to West of Englanders and other taxpayers for years to come.

"Now that we've given ourselves some breathing space, I implore the Government to use these two years wisely. Rather than going down the route of fracking which we know is disruptive and will do little to bring down bills, and which is completely out of touch with the global reality of needing to stop burning fossil fuels, we need a national energy sprint for homegrown power, as Labour are proposing. It's also time the Government put forward a proper national home insulation plan to complement our retrofitting programme here in the West of England, and for a fundamental overhaul of the energy market to address the route cause of this crisis and to protect locals for years to come".