21st September 2008

Cllr Martin Whiteside writes to the local press and calls for a universal free insulation scheme like Greens have introduced in Kirklees

Fuel poverty should not exist in a rich country like ours.  Gordon Brown's fuel deal means less well-off households will have to navigate means-testing to access free insulation, with many inevitably becoming excluded.

As with Tory school vouchers and patient passports, this 50% discount is only a subsidy to those already able to pay for insulation. Over one in six British households are already in fuel poverty, and if you can't afford to heat your home, you can't afford to insulate it.

The government have promised free insulation to pensioners and the poorest.   This does help, but it requires people to jump through bureaucratic hoops to access the insulation they need. Many of the most needy aren't able to do that, for example because they have learning difficulties or have to move house frequently.

Green London Assembly members forced the last Labour administration in London to introduce free insulation to those who need it the most. Green councillors in Yorkshire have already got their local authority to insulate 11,000 homes totally free with no means testing, with 30,000 more to come (i). If Gordon Brown wants to solve fuel poverty he should come to the experts.

Cllr Martin Whiteside, Hillside, Claypits Lane, Thrupp, Stroud

Stroud Green Party Parliamentary Candidate


Notes to editors:

(i) For more details on the Kirklees project, see: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/3356

The Local Government Association have called for a national free insulation scheme based on the Kirklees model. Full details of how this would work on a national level are made in the recently published document "Switch off, Switched on 2". It is available as a pdf here:
www.lga.gov.uk/lga/aio/971071