FRACKING – not Government-imposed price freezes – is the solution to soaring energy bills, the prime minister insisted.

Mr Cameron gave his first response to Ed Miliband’s eye-catching pledge to peg bills for 20 months, from 2015, insisting the idea was already “unravelling”.

And he argued “unconventional gas” – a less-inflammatory phrase to describe fracking – was the best way to help householders worried about rising bills.

Mr Cameron said: “What we need in our country is low and competitive energy prices not for 20 months, but for 20 years “We need to do the things that create a competitive energy market, we need to access the new technology - like unconventional gas - that will help keep prices down, rather than policies that so swiftly unravel.”

The prime minister suggested the “unravelling” was Mr Miliband’s acceptance that he might have to reconsider the price freeze, if the wholesale price of energy rose sharply.

Significantly, he did not repeat the claims of other Conservatives that “the lights will go out”, or that vital investment in new energy sources would be scaled back.

Mr Cameron also hinted at possible new Conservative moves to cut bills, in response to Mr Miliband’s headline-grabbing pledge, saying: “There’s always more to do.”