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Govt delays energy announcement

The government has delayed an announcement on plans to force energy companies to help those in fuel poverty, leading to accusations of cowardice.

Members of the 'Big Six' energy companies are understood to have been piling pressure on the prime minister to mitigate any severe decisions against them.

"The behaviour of these companies is unacceptable," said Liberal democrat leader Nick Clegg.

"First they receive a massive £9 billion subsidy through the EU emissions trading scheme; then they line up to clobber customers with crippling price hikes; then they do all they can to scupper a deal aimed at helping the most vulnerable."

Government policy advisors have been toying with the idea of a windfall tax on energy companies over the summer, weighing up the effect on Britain's investment climate with the policy's popularity among Labour backbenchers and the country at large.

Gordon Brown is understood to prefer entering into private negotiations with energy companies, convincing them to help vulnerable families ¿ through free insulation, for instance ¿ rather than adopting a regulative solution.

"This is a genuine matter of life or death for thousands of Britain's most vulnerable people," Mr Clegg continued.

"Gordon Brown should display some of the courage he so much admires in pushing for a deal which will get them through the winter."

The big six are Powergen, npower, Scottish Power, EDF Energy, Scottish and Southern Energy and British Gas.