FURIOUS Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle has slammed government ministers for breaking news to the media before MPs.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was today grilled by members of parliament about the high gas prices rocking the domestic energy sector.

MPs from all sides raised fears about household bills and fuel poverty as the Universal Credit cuts loom and the price of goods goes up.

But Kwarteng declined to answer some questions, telling MPs just to wait on a later statement between the government and market regulator Ofgem.

Labour's Ed Miliband said "the point of him coming to this house is to be questioned on government policy" and Hoyle raged: "I don't think it's acceptable. It's continuous. I thought we'd got the message through to the Prime Minister in the meeting with him, obviously it's not reaching to secretaries of state and ministers."

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He went on: "This house deserves its respect. People here on all sides are elected, elected to hear from you to be told here first, not second hand by the media and someone who might come tomorrow if they feel in the way."

And he said: "Can we make sure through the clerks that the Secretary of State gets a copy of the ministerial code, have it underlined and then we'll have a discussion?"

The comments rounded off a session during which Kwarteng repeatedly brushed off points about Boris Johnson's pre-Brexit energy price reassurances. Writing for The Sun ahead of the EU referendum, he and Michael Gove pledged "fuel bills will be lower for everyone” as they outlined plans to cut VAT on household energy payments.

But five UK providers have gone bust since January amidst rising wholesale gas prices driven by problems with supply.

Both the SNP's Stephen Flynn and Patricia Gibson pushed Kwarteng on the PM's "misplaced assurances". Responding to Flynn, he said: "I find it extraordinary that the honourable gentleman is still re-litigating the so-called Brexit wars, absolutely extraordinary. This is a serious issue and it's not the time to re-fight the battles of five years ago."

And he drew gasps from MPs when he told Gibson: "I'm not her to re-fight the 2016 battle of Brexit, I just think it's something that should be expected in her case with good grace."

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Kwarteng has held a series of talks with energy firms including British Gas owner Centrica and E.On in recent days, but told the House there will be no taxpayer bail-out or winter fuel crisis. He said: "There will be absolutely no question of the lights going out or people being unable to heat their homes. There will be no three-day working weeks or a throwback to the 1970s. Such thinking is alarmist unhelpful and completely misguided."

Dismissing calls for the re-establishment of a public provider, he pledged to protect the public from price increases and insisted: "The government will not be bailing out failed companies. There will be no rewards for failure or mismanagement. The taxpayer should not be expected to prop up companies which have poor business models and are not resilient to fluctuations in price."

MP after MP urged Kwarteng's government to, in the words of Ed Miliband, "cancel this terrible decision on Universal Credit" as the deadline for the removal of the temporary pandemic uplift nears.

Meanwhile, millions of households are already facing a 12% rise in their energy bills from October when a higher price cap comes into force. That cap, which sets the maximum price under a standard tariff, is supposed to insulate consumers from sudden increases in charges.

It's thought that Ofgem may lift that cap between now and next year enable suppliers to charge customers more as a result of the uplift in wholesale gas prices, something Kwarteng says is a problem that's not unique to the UK.

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However, LibDem Jamie Stone, whose Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency includes Altnaharra, which frequently records the UK's lowest temperatures, said families face a "hellish choice" between power and food.

Flynn said: "A decade of Tory cuts and regressive tax rises has left millions of families poorer and worse off. The UK has the worst levels of poverty and inequality in north west Europe and under Boris Johnson in-work poverty has risen to record levels this century. Urgent action is needed.

"The Chancellor must ditch Tory Universal Credit cuts and instead put money in people's pockets by making the uplift permanent and extending it to legacy benefits, introducing a real living wage of at least £10 an hour, and an energy payment for lower-income households."