Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne is expected to reject the recommendations of the Government’s independent advisers on climate change by slowing its drive to tackle global warming. Mr Osborne argues that Britain should not go further or faster than its competitors and said last week that it should “not be in front of the rest of the world” in tackling climate change.—Andrew Grice, The Independent, 4 October 2013

Britain’s coalition government is heading for a fresh dispute over green energy after a call by Downing Street to water down climate commitments as part of efforts to keep power bills down. Senior Conservatives have put under review several green policies in the last fortnight in response to Ed Miliband’s conference pledge to freeze energy bills in 2015.—Jim Pickard and Elizabeth Rigby, Financial Times, 7 October 2013

If this conference season is remembered for anything, it will be for Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy prices. This pledge might be economically flawed but it has given the Labour leader a retail offer to voters and rebutted the charge that he doesn’t have any policies. Initially, the Tories were uncertain of how to respond. But the Tory leadership has now decided what it wants to do. In George Osborne’s autumn statement, they want to remove some of the seven green taxes and levies that are driving up energy bills.—James Forsyth, The Spectator, 6 October 2013

Labour Leader Ed Miliband is no longer a leader lacking in policies, but a man with an eye-catching pledge to freeze energy prices. ‘It’s made him relevant,’ one Downing Street source concedes. One Tory involved in the fight-back says: ‘It is remarkable the extent to which No 10 has been discombobulated by Miliband’s energy announcement.’ —James Forsyth, Mail on Sunday, 6 October 2013

Standing between Osborne and this act of political jiu-jitsu are the Liberal Democrats and, in particular, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey. Davey is convinced that climate change is one of the great issues of our time. By contrast, the Chancellor has long been a sceptic of green levies. The result: it’s going to be tin-hat time in Whitehall for the next few weeks as the Tories try to persuade the Lib Dems to junk some of these green measures. One Lib Dem says: ‘It’s war in the Department of Energy and Climate Change every day.’—James Forsyth, Mail on Sunday, 6 October 2013

Every British household will pay an average of more than £400 in higher bills over the next six years to pay for subsidies under controversial Government plans to hit green power targets. The money will go solely to paying for otherwise uneconomic offshore wind turbines, onshore wind farms, biomass plants, landfill gas sites and hydro power plants, new figures show.—Steve Hawkes, The Sunday Telegraph, 6 October 2013

Households should be braced for a energy bill bombshell later this month, with letters alerting them to price rises expected to start hitting doormats in the next two weeks.—Jon Rees, This is Money, 5 October 2013

Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne was last night under pressure to slash green taxes after fears they could add £425 to household energy bills over the next six years. Senior Tories want the Chancellor to use his Autumn Statement mini-budget to scrap green taxes to help hard-pressed families cope.—Daily Express, 7 October 2013

Ministers are under renewed pressure to scrap their controversial green “carbon tax” after delays in European Union state aid left British heavy industry without promised protection from the costs of the levy. Tata Steel and BASF have warned that the so-called carbon price floor — levied on fossil fuels used in power generation — is putting them at a competitive disadvantage.—Emily Gosden, The Sunday Telegraph, 6 October 2013