A recent report from the Energy Bill Foundation found that 21% of households in the Skipton & Ripon constituency are living in fuel poverty and are struggling to pay their energy bills. This makes it the fourth worst constituency in the Yorkshire & Humber region. It is a very worrying situation. People are having to choose between paying for food or heating their homes.
There has been relatively little coverage of Labour’s proposal for refurbishing existing housing but it is hugely significant. There are a number of benefits which flow from a programme to insulate and improve the energy performance of existing homes. These include reducing fuel poverty, cutting carbon emissions and boosting the economy and jobs through thousands of small construction businesses. Labour has promised to insulate 5 million homes over ten years if it gets into government. This is the size of programme that is required to make a real difference and it shows how concerted government action is needed. Compare this with the abject failure of the Green Deal, dreamt up by the Conservatives and Lib Dems. In the whole of the Skipton & Ripon constituency there have been just 313 assessments, let alone actual works implemented. The Green Deal has simply not been attractive enough to encourage homeowners to take it up and implement energy saving measures. Only Labour has a serious and deliverable programme for tackling the scourge of energy poverty. |
Archives
March 2015
Categories |