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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: David Cameron and Nick Clegg have set out their plans to try to cut energy bills, the estimate is round about £50 a year for the average consumer. It comes just two months after Ed Miliband of course announced he would freeze energy bills if elected Prime Minister. I’m joined now for his reaction by the Shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Umunna, very good to see you. Well they’re listening aren’t they, the government, they’re going the right way about things, they’re trying to do something about the high cost of energy?

CHUKA UMUNNA: Well you’ll recall that when Ed Miliband at our conference announced the prize freeze that we would institute as soon as we go into government if we were elected, there were claims that somehow to stand up to these six energy companies who have been hitting people with very steep increases in their energy bills, to do anything about that was positively communist and what we see is this government clearly struggling to play catch up with them.

DM: Fixing prices. Government trying to regulate industries is very different from what they are announcing here, they are looking at a different part of the bill.

CHUKA UMUNNA: Well this is actually worse than a pale imitation of what we put forward because as we understand it they will on Thursday, during the Autumn Statement, announce that the seek to save people £50 in their energy bill. Now we know since the beginning of this parliament that energy prices have increased by over £300, we know that they are due to increase by over £100 in the next year and that will go nowhere near to addressing the problems that people have been having with their bills, given the increases - £50, what’s £50? And of course that is actually going to come at the behest of the Exchequer, this is something we are going to pay for, it is not something – as is the case with Labour’s energy price freeze – which is actually …

DM: But isn’t that a better way of doing it? Because you have progressive taxation therefore the people who can afford it pay more, if you charge consumers blanket amounts they are the ones who are losing out in this? There is a shift in it.

CHUKA UMUNNA: The problem with our energy bills has not been the government, the problem with our energy bills has been the six big energy companies who the Prime Minister steadfastly refuses to stand up. First of all we have to sort out the issues of them actually ripping off people. On estimates in recent years they have been overcharging to the tune of £7 billion, our energy price freeze means that they will have to spend about £4.5 billion actually giving people a fair deal but the reason for doing this energy price freeze is so that we can actually get time to sort out the lack of competition and the poor functioning of the energy market which is why we said we would abolish the regulator, Ofgem. Now we haven’t heard the government come forward with anything that either addresses the fact that people are being hit by price hikes and being ripped off by the energy companies, nor have we seen them come forward with the key issue here which is how are they going to sort out the regulation of that sector and get more competition in it.

DM: And that is a question they have to answer, you are absolutely right but on these, this is government doing things that happen, yours of course is opposition promising things, what would a Labour government do coming in to power? Would you say hold on a minute – and you just touched upon it there – if this is being paid out of general taxation, we’re going to put it back on the bills?

CHUKA UMUNNA: Well what we have said that we will do is if we are elected in 2015, we will have a 20 month energy price freeze. That will save the average household over £100, £120, it will save your average British business £1800, to allow us time to put in place a new regulatory architecture for that sector that is operating in the interests of 27 million households who have been clobbered by these energy price hikes and for 2.4 million businesses who have also suffered as well. That is what we would do and that would mean the energy companies actually giving people a better deal, not as this government is doing, basically having the tax payer pay for the problems that the energy companies are causing your viewers.

DM: Okay, last thoughts, more broadly we have got the Autumn Statement on Thursday, we are going to see a government here which is in pretty much a better position than you may be imaged or indeed hoped it would be when it comes to the economy, this old Plan A seems to be working at last.

CHUKA UMUNNA: Well actually let’s compare our position to that of the US which had many of the same problems as us coming out of the global financial crisis. The US’s economy is now 5.3% beyond 2007, the pre-crisis peak; we’re 2.5% below that. The fact is, despite the fact that we have got growth again, people are simply not feeling it. The cost of living is increasing, you’re seeing people coming in and getting their pay packet which is £1600 less than what it was at the beginning of this parliament, for businesses as well, they’ve been struggling not just with energy but huge increases in their business rates which is why we are saying that we would cut their business rate in 2015 and freeze it in 2016 and actually, I’m the Shadow Business Secretary, one thing we are trying to urge people to do, next Saturday Dermot, is Small Business Saturday, people can go and support your small local independent shops by spending their money, making a big effort to do that next Saturday in their local shops on Small Business Saturday. That’s something we can all do to make a huge difference.

DM: Chuka Umunna, thank you very much indeed, Shadow Business Secretary.