|
FUEL POVERTY SET TO RISE IN GLOS |
|
|
 25th February 2008
Greens have expressed support to Friends of the Earth who have told the
government to come up with a plan to tackle fuel poverty by Friday or
face a judicial review (i).
Martin Whiteside, the Green party Parliamentary spokesperson for Stroud said: "Rising fuel prices will cause not only poverty, but real suffering and in the worst cases death - and not just in other countries but here in Gloucestershire. This is totally unacceptable. Rising prices are caused by over-consumption of the rich, but hit the poor the most. They are exacerbated by failure of Governments to tackle the issue. There are just and green ways to solve this problem - it is time for western Governments to act now - before more people suffer and die."
Philip Booth, a Stroud District councillor (Green) added: "The government promised to eradicate fuel poverty yet we now have more than 4.5 million households in fuel poverty, the highest since Labour has been in power along with obscene excessive profits being made by power companies. Now the government has proposed cutting the funding for the UK's only fuel poverty charity by a quarter. This is madness and will hit the poorest even harder. FoE are right to challenge the Government on their appalling record."
Peter Lehmann, chairman of the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, claims the government's record on fuel poverty is 'incomprehensible, unjustifiable and shocking' (ii).
Notes:
(i) Observer 24th Feb 2008:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/24/greenbusiness
(ii) Observer 3rd February 2008:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/feb/03/householdbills.utilities
|
Home 
News 
Green New Deal Report 