[COPY] UK’S Mad Miliband rolls out the Marxist way – ‘compliance by jackboot’
households impoverished by exorbitant energy bills – subject to secret courts that enable breaking in to homes and installing pre-payment meters to get money for electricity and gas use
PETER HALLIGAN
From here:
Ed Miliband backs secret court hearings to give energy firms warrants to break into homes
Thousands of households could still face forced entry into their homes to install prepayment meters under a secretive court process backed by ministers and senior judges.
Senior judges and Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have backed a secret court process that allows utility companies to get warrants to force entry into people’s homes.
The system allows energy firms to enter properties to install prepayment meters, with magistrates making decisions behind closed doors instead of in open court.
Baroness Carr and Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring have both defended the current system. Speaking at her annual press conference in March, Baroness Carr said magistrates were “applying the law as it exists”.
It emerged late last year that magistrates had approved large batches of warrants using written evidence they had not personally reviewed.
The Government has also signalled support for the current arrangements, with a departmental spokesperson saying the courts were following “standard procedure”.
Recall that ‘the system’ wants to abolish trial by jury.
The controversy follows a scandal that engulfed major energy suppliers including British Gas, Scottish Power and OVO Energy during 2022 and 2023, when it came to light that tens of thousands of prepayment meters had been forcibly installed in properties across the country.
Judge Goldspring’s subsequent review acknowledged that courts “do not independently verify information presented to them”, stating the judicial role is confined to assessing material brought before them rather than conducting independent investigations.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “Court cases involving vulnerable energy customers are still being heard behind closed doors and decided in bulk. If the Chief Magistrate does not see a problem with this, then it is time for ministers to act.”
He called for the legislation to “remove the threat of forced prepayment meters for households unable to pay their energy bills”, arguing that reforms to procedures dating back to the 1950s are urgently needed.
Mr Francis added: “Households in energy debt are not there through choice, they are struggling because of five years of sky-high energy costs and an oil and gas industry generating extraordinary profits that ultimately end up on people’s bills.”
A Government spokesperson defended the current system, stating: “We expect suppliers and their representatives to comply with strict rules on applying for prepayment meters. Vulnerable people must never be targeted and every single case brought must be given opportunity to be challenged in court.”
Who pays for the legal representation for a court case without a jury? How about the time taken to prepare a defence? Heaven forbid a defendant and family lose a job because of court appearances.
The government caused the problem of high energy bills requiring pre-payment meters and should pay the bill vi welfare benefits– or, rather government ministers should be PERSONALLY liable for paying the bills of the people they have condemned to energy poverty.
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This article ([COPY] UK’S Mad Miliband rolls out the Marxist way – ‘compliance by jackboot’) was published by Peter Halligan and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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