Energy crisis: Heappey calls for continued support of Ukraine
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Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said stopping supporting Ukraine will not bring the situation back to where it was before the war in terms of economy and cost of living crisis. Amid fear over the cost of living crisis and soaring energy bills this autumn, he stressed the importance for the west to provide continued support to Ukraine as he explained western safety and security “very much depends on doing the right thing in Ukraine”. He said the way the west acts in regards to Ukraine is being watched by China’s President Xi Jinping as failing to back Ukraine “might encourage him” to invade Taiwan and consequently to put global security at stake.
Mr Heappey told Talk TV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer: “It is the hard realty that whilst it might seem superficial that by stopping supporting Ukraine and by hoping that that would bring that war to an end, and then we can normalise economic relations with Russia and everything would then spring back to where it was before the war.
“That won’t be the case.”
He continued: “If you allow this war to end on anything other than President Zelensky’s terms, you’re effectively giving Putin territorial reward for his belligerence.
“What we’ve seen in south Odessa, in Georgia or in Crimea is that when you give him that reward, he goes away, he rearms and then he goes again.
“It’s not just Putin to whom the message needs to be sent.
“Xi Jinping will be watching very carefully around the way the world responds and the way that the world maintains its solidarity over Ukraine.
“If he comes to some calculations that you could take Taiwan, and it would be just a few months of international opprobrium before the world gets back to normal, that might encourage him to get on and do it.”
He concluded: “For the next 20 or 30 years of this century, our security and the expensiveness of our lives very much depends on doing the right thing in Ukraine”.
The comments came as energy companies have made calls for the energy cap to be frozen at the current rate – £1971 per year – amid fears over energy crisis and soaring energy bills in the autumn.
The scheme, defined as tariff deficit fund, has been backed by bosses of Octopus Energy, Ecotricity and Utilita.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today and referring to the current energy crisis, Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson said: “The big thing here is we need more help for customers from the government.
“The reality is customers are being asked to pay the price of gas which is weaponised by Putin, and they shouldn’t expect to do that alone”.
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“You could double the existing support package or many of the energy companies now favour a programme where you do something called tariff deficit fund.”
Referring to his proposal, he explained: “Essentially we freeze the price cap roughly where it is and fund that during times when energy prices are very high, pay it back when they’re coming down.
“And what that would see is prices staying around where they are now, which is still, by the way, two thirds above where they were a year ago.”
The calls from energy companies came as Ofgem is expected to announced on Friday a £1,600 increase in the domestic energy price cap to more than £3500 this autumn.
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