Defending The Banks And Now Big Energy, Why Does Angela Knight Do It?

Angela Knight has forged a career on defending the seemingly indefensible, having fought for the Tories in John Major's government, then the banks just after the financial crash, and now the energy companies.

"It is true and I put it on my CV - I do difficult jobs," she quips. Knight is currently chief spokesman for the energy industry as head of the Energy UK trade body, not the easiest industry to represent in the public eye.

After a string of news stories about rising bills, Labour leader Ed Miliband set public debate alight about energy companies last September with his pledge to freeze energy bills for two years.

Knight praises the Labour leader for "sensing the mood" among consumers about rising bills, adding: "Nobody was talking about the reasons for the price rises." Miliband, she says, seized a "god-given opportunity of something people dont like, an industry you can pin it on and the government of the day not actually framing particularly strongly in that policy area, and then ka-boom!"

The 64-year-old unsurprisingly shares her industry colleagues' scorn for the pledge, quipping that she thought he would announce it this September rather than last year "as you'd only have five months before the general election for it to then unravel".

Does she share Energy secretary Ed Davey and energy giant bosses' concern that the move would increase the chances of blackouts breaking out across Britain?

"We do have to be careful what we do and how we do it. You don't need much in there to cause investors to say 'I think I'm going to wait to see what happens'."

Scottish Independence? 'It's A Bit Of A Nightmare'

Many businesses have already warned that Scottish independence could cause major uncertainty for their operations, how does Knight feel?

Knight struggles to hide her concern about the administrative complications, suggesting that it could increase costs for the energy companies that they may have to pass to consumers.

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Defending The Banks And Now Big Energy, Why Does Angela Knight Do It?