Liberal Democrats back British business call

3.10.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 18th Oct 2005

Supporting today's lobby of the EU by UK companies, Sir Robert Smith, Liberal Democrat Energy Spokesman, said: "British business competitiveness is being put at risk by the failure of the EU to deliver the promised opening up of energy markets. Now that we have a liberalised market physically connected to the rest of the EU, we risk serious price distortions until the same openness applies to our EU neighbours.

"A year ago the Prime Minister was optimistic about the prospects for opening up the rest of the EU energy markets. Only last Thursday the Energy Minister stated that energy market liberalisation is a key priority for the UK's EU Presidency. With two months remaining of the Presidency, the Prime Minister must be seen to deliver on this priority."