WITHOUT a doubt it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas as we see decorations appearing across Inverclyde.

Christmas lights are everywhere and they are a key part of the festive celebrations we have come to look forward to and associate with this time of year.

However, as we decorate our homes and promote festive cheer, we should recognise this comes at a price.

Keeping up with energy costs can be difficult, and especially so at this time of year when the heating needs to be turned up as well.

I think we can all agree that steep energy prices are one of the main contributory factors to the increasing cost of living.

That’s why tackling the high cost of energy will be one of the key priorities for an incoming Labour government in 2015.

Labour have set out plans to freeze prices until 2017 for both domestic and business users and regulate the energy market.

No more price spikes as the winter months approach. We simply cannot continue to be held to ransom by the big energy companies.

It’s time to take them on and create a fairer energy market, and Labour are the only party who are committed to doing so. But it’s not only price that needs to be looked at, it’s also essential to know where Britain’s energy is coming from in the future.

That’s why I spoke in Parliament on diversification of energy production and again highlighted the need to utilise more of our natural resources here on the west coast of Scotland.

We are not short of rain, so we should use this to our advantage and invest in hydroelectric power. We could also use strong Atlantic tides to provide up to a fifth of the UK’s energy.

So as you switch on your Christmas lights, give a thought towards next year and on how energy should not cost you or the Earth to produce.