Letters to the Editor – 26/09 – Energy price fix, Inflation target, Best of Twitter
Energy price fix
[Re: Miliband’s lurch to left is a recipe for disaster, yesterday]
Labour claims that it wishes to promote a more competitive energy industry by breaking up the largest firms. Of course the irony is that the plan to freeze energy prices will likely result in a far less competitive market. Centrica has already threatened to leave the UK, potentially reducing the number of suppliers consumers can choose from, while smaller firms are hardly likely to be able to increase market share with fixed prices and potentially rising costs. This is a seriously misconceived plan.
Anthony Isaac
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Inflation target
[Re: Tucker’s parting shot: Bank cannot provide stimulus without limit, yesterday]
Paul Tucker says that the Bank of England’s monetary stimulus must not allow “medium-term inflation expectations to drift away from the target of 2 per cent.” The Monetary Policy Committee has been saying this for around five years now – all the time insisting that inflation will fall below the 2 per cent threshold in the next year. The fact is, it has not yet. The idea that anybody in the country still believes the Monetary Policy Committee’s inflation forecasts is ridiculous.
Name Withheld
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BEST OF TWITTER
Last time a government regulated energy prices was in California. Result: shortages and blackouts.
@schwartztrends
Green energy should have been dropped in 2008. It’s a luxury we can’t afford until recovery is cemented.
@shortsterling
Just 7 per cent tell YouGov that Europe is one of the top three issues facing them. Ukip voters 17 per cent.
@MSmithsonPB
Syrian rebels reject West-backed political opposition leaders, call for sharia. Nobody left for US to back.
@ianbremmer