Wednesday 6 November 2013

Lucas: Government must retain obligation to tackle fuel poverty

The Green MP Caroline Lucas will today accuse the Coalition of trying to “weasel out” of a long-standing duty to eliminate fuel poverty.

Ahead of today’s Commons debate on fuel prices she has drawn attention to a move by the Government to abolish its statutory obligation to eliminate fuel poverty.  

Under the 2000 Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act, the Government has a duty to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.   However, the Coalition tabled an amendment to the Energy Bill in the Lords, which would replace this duty with a commitment merely to address the situation of people living in fuel poverty, without any targets or timescale.

Lucas has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for ambitious fuel poverty targets to be reinstated, with the support of other MPs on the cross party parliamentary fuel poverty group.

The motion urges Government and parliament to support an amendment from crossbench peer Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan, which reintroduces energy efficiency targets in order to ensure robust action to eradicate fuel poverty.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

It’s a scandal that millions of households in England are currently in fuel poverty, with this figure set to grow dramatically as wages fall and energy costs rise. The Coalition is weaselling out of its duty to help people struggling with cold homes and high fuel bills.  Without targets set in legislation, there is no guarantee that this or any future government will take the necessary action on fuel poverty.

The Coalition must rethink its decision to downgrade its commitment to ending fuel poverty and recognise that energy efficiency provides the only cost effective long-term solution to unaffordable energy bills.  This needs to be a higher priority for all politicians. Having clear fuel poverty and energy efficiency objectives in primary legislation is a crucial first step.

This would help drive a nationwide upgrade to the housing stock, which would be a great boost for the energy efficiency industry and jobs too.

2 comments:

trevor said...

I Think People should remember That it's not only the current Bunch that have Let Them down.
17 years ago Labour came in promising Much but what they delivered bore little resemblance to what was coming out of it's collective mouth.
This country loves to boast about it's democratic ways and yet only a few days ago a certain radio station was discussing how more and more people are losing faith in politics and are therefore reluctant to vote for any political party these days which is more than understandable.
I understand and accept that no one is perfect and we are all inclined to make mistakes etc
but there are principles that can be used as a guide which if used would actually prove to be of great assistance and benefit to everyone
but sadly those @ the wheel of politics consider themselves wise enough to do their own thing
and therefore overlook principles in favor of their own ideas and then as time goes by
even they are able to see that their ideas don't work
but yet strangely enough they just continue pushing ahead
kidding themselves that it just takes a bit more Time for their ideas to bear fruit.
it's all Too easy and predictable for those on the other side politically to point out the failures of those currently in charge.
but if those currently waiting hoping to get it's hands on the wheel of government, were given the chance to show what they can do would they get it right?
well only Time would Tell, I think they would prove to be just Like So called New Labour Who Promised much but delivered Little.
simply Cause once again they Overlook Principles and think that they can run a country in a corrupt way and still reap good fruit while Telling the public to be good they themselves are often far from good.
just as Alcohol and driving are a bad combination and therefore is frowned upon by those in charge.
Likewise democracy and democracy have proved to be a bad combination and yet strangely enough is yet to be outlawed by those in charge.
and why?
well because those in charge have seen that they benefit from mixing hypocrisy with democracy.
they decide for themselves what is right and wrong and even when something is clearly wrong they just ignore it and stubbornly stubble on
basking in its fake glory while condemning others even though they are no better themselves.
a few days ago I looked @ a picture of the Prime minister and one of his ministers and he looked like he was loving the idea of being photographed and yet the photo was accompanied by a story about how MP's continue making the most of their expenses system even while most of the public are struggling to keep themselves warm.
so the impression that gives is that it is more beneficial to be a Politician than it is to be part of the working class that is finding harder and harder to survive.
isn't it strange how while the MP's are falling over themselves making it harder and harder for the public to survive, they themselves make sure that all of the gaps are filled in for themselves!
yes.
so they don't need to worry about keeping warm during winter because they can make claims to cover that even though they already make enough money as MP's.
while you have people sweeping the streets for example and still find it hard to keep warm during winter.
so much for the party that long claimed to be on the side of the poor.
Time has proved that that was nothing but an illusion.
after all it had its time to prove itself and yet here we all are in the 21st century and there is still such a thing as fuel poverty?
that surely begs the question what have they been doing all this time?
well Mr Milliband You Tell us?
and you Also Tell us Why We should Trust you and give you the Keys to number 10?
How many Parents would Allow a deceased and disgraced former disc jockey to look after their children?

trevor said...

I Grew up in a country and society in which hypocrisy and double standards are the norm
and remains the norm right down to today.
for example you have this MP's questioning the police and condemnation of a certain Mr Snowdon for leaking information to the press that then puts the public @ risk.
now what upsets me immensely is this...These MP's make a big show of concern for falling standards
that in itself isn't bad
but what I think is bad and hypocritical is when they put on this show while @ the same time shop keepers all over are handing over pack after pack of cigarettes that are the reason for the countless deaths each year in this country but amazingly the same MP's currently ooooing and arrring over the plebgate scandal and ganging up against Ed Snowdon for leaking information that puts the public @ risk of being attacked by terrorists, are the same MP's that have permitted the sale of cigarettes simply cause they have seen it to be a dependable regular source of tax revenue.
and even though what the public get in return for their money is far from beneficial
the MP's conveniently remain silent because they are protecting what is in their interest.
so basically if you want to make a living by exploiting the public by means of Cigarettes and even when what you for a Living causes countless deaths and even causes the nhs budget to increase each year
that is clearly acceptable to the government.
and yet is it right to allow people to make a living from selling something to the public that does nothing but damage their health and causes them to die painful deaths way before their time is naturally up?
of course it isn't but because we live in a country in which double standards are the order of the day and hypocrisy is @ the heart of government
that is why this exploitation has become the norm.
a good government motivated from love and principles would not allow exploitation and self abuse to become the norm.
those things only happen under extremely corrupt greed driven hypocrites.
so should we be surprised to find that fuel poverty exists in Britain in 2013 when you have a political system that permits exploitation of the public when it sees ways in which it can benefit financially from such exploitation?
should we also be surprised to find that while the public are freezing and starving, MP's are nice and warm and well fed Thank you?