Two years into Labour's government, British families are still freezing. That's not hyperbole. It's the reality facing millions of households as April 2026 brings yet another brutal energy bill reminder: a price cap of £1,641 per year for a dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit. This isn't recovery. This is a new normal of unaffordable energy, and Labour has no serious plan to fix it.

Keir Starmer promised change. He pledged action on the cost of living crisis. But instead of delivering lower bills, Labour has doubled down on the very policies driving prices up. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned of a "2026 energy price crisis"—a damning indictment of a government that claimed it would make families' lives better.

A Price Cap That Doesn't Cap Anything

£1,641 a year sounds manageable until you do the maths. That's £137 a month for energy alone. For working families already stretched to breaking point, it's the difference between heating their home and eating properly. Between keeping the lights on and paying for prescriptions. For pensioners on fixed incomes, it's a choice nobody should have to make.

The government calls this progress. They point to the cap as proof the crisis is easing. But families know better. A price cap is only useful if people can actually afford it. For too many households, this cap still leaves them in fuel poverty. The system was designed to cap prices, not to make them sustainable. Labour inherited a broken policy and did nothing meaningful to fix it.

The Housing Double Whammy

Energy bills aren't the only problem. Rents have risen 20% higher than Local Housing Allowance levels, creating a catastrophic gap between what people receive in support and what they actually pay. In Gloucester, a family in an average two-bedroom property faces a £160-a-month shortfall between their rent and the housing support available to them.

Think about that for a moment. £160 a month. Every single month. That's not a rounding error—it's a nightmare scenario for families living on the edge. Labour promised to fix the housing crisis. Instead, they've allowed landlords to push rents higher while letting support rates stagnate.

Combine soaring rents with punishing energy bills, and you've got families choosing between basics: rent, heat, food. This is what Labour's policies have created.

Net Zero at What Cost?

Labour's obsession with net zero targets is making everything worse. While ordinary families struggle to heat their homes, the government pushes forward with policies that drive energy costs ever higher. Green levies on bills add hundreds of pounds annually, costs passed directly to struggling households.

Nobody disputes climate change. But net zero policies that make energy unaffordable don't help the planet—they punish working people. Labour treats this as an abstract moral principle. Families treat it as a monthly bill they can't pay. The government needs to choose: pursue ideological net zero targets or help British families stay warm. Right now, it's clear which priority wins.

Meanwhile, the National Living Wage sits at £12.71, still below the real Living Wage of £13.45 (£14.80 in London). People are earning more on paper while their real purchasing power collapses under rising energy, housing, and food costs.

What Reform UK Would Do

Reform UK would put British families first. We would scrap unaffordable net zero targets that burden ordinary households while achieving little for the planet. We would invest in domestic energy production—North Sea oil and gas remain crucial to our energy security and cost containment.

Remove green levies from energy bills and use targeted support for genuinely vulnerable households instead of punishing everyone. Build genuinely affordable housing rather than chasing vanity net zero construction targets that make homes even more expensive. Link housing support to actual market rents so families aren't left with impossible shortfalls.

Labour talks about helping working people. Reform UK actually means it. We understand that unaffordable energy and housing aren't tragic inevitabilities—they're the direct result of failed policies. Change them, and families get relief.

Britain's families deserve better than £1,641 energy bills and £160 monthly housing shortfalls. They deserve a government that prioritises their struggles over ideological net zero obsessions. That's what Reform UK stands for.