Energy Prices

Andrew Percy Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Flint]

The difference between Labour Members and Government Members is that we do not just give up; we look to find other ways to help pensioners with their fuel bills. Nobody should have to pay more for their energy bills than they need to. This is especially important for pensioners over 75 who are more susceptible to the cold and least able to take advantage of online deals. That is why my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition announced yesterday that, to start with, we would ensure that all pensioners over 75 got the lowest tariff on offer, saving them up to £200 a year—on the Government’s figures, not ours. There might be less money around, but for those 4 million pensioners, Labour can still deliver fairness in these tough times—not by spending more money, but by saying to the big six energy companies that, at a time when people are struggling yet they are enjoying strong profits, they must act in a way that is responsible and fair to the public.

[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that whatever the situation with the winter fuel allowance, one thing that would have put a lot more money into pensioners’ pockets is the restoration of the link between pensions and earnings—something Labour promised in 1997. They failed to deliver that yet we delivered in our first Budget, which will bring about a record rise in pensions this year?

[Caroline Flint]

One of the first actions taken by the Labour Government after winning in 1997 was to look at the situation of the poorest pensioners in our country, many of whom were women who had never been able to earn enough to have a second pension. We had priorities in respect of what we were going to achieve—pension credit, the winter fuel payment, other support through the Warm Front scheme: we did more for pensioners than any Government for generations. What is happening is that we are now going backwards, not forwards.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

As many other Members have said, this is an issue of huge concern to constituents across the country, and my constituents have some particular concerns that make the impact of rising energy prices much greater. We have a lot of properties that are off-grid, which is a huge issue particularly in the marshland villages, and I also represent in the Scunthorpe part of my constituency a large number of park homes, which other Members have mentioned. A lot of people in my constituency live in single-skin properties, many privately rented, where landlords, despite their legal right, require them to be on energy meters. That was an experience I had for about three and a half years before I was able to buy my house. I lived in a rented property with one of those meters and I know the added costs. Like other Members, I am getting increasing amounts of casework about this matter. I hope the Secretary of State will act on the concerns about private rented landlords, park homes and single-skin properties.

There is not a great deal of time to go into casework issues, but another issue I want to discuss is switching. I was saddened by the comments of the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) and I remind her that, under her Government, in the region we represent, Yorkshire and the Humber, fuel poverty went from 7.7% of households in 2004 to 19.9% in 2009, so this issue has not appeared overnight. It is wrong to pooh-pooh the idea of switching. One thing that I have done—my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) said that she had done something similar in her constituency—is to produce a book and guide for my constituents to assist them as best I can by informing them about how they can switch and how they can make use of the social tariffs and their replacements. There are practical things that we can do, but I do not deny that it is sometimes incredibly confusing. I had a lady in her 80s at my constituency surgery the other week. She explained that she was unable to switch because she did not have access to the internet and her children lived a long way away. We need to do more for such individuals.

I want briefly to address a point made by the right hon. Member for Don Valley. I intervened on her about it but it is worth saying again. If a point is worth making once it is worth making twice. Never mind the nonsense about the winter fuel allowance and the fact that Labour would probably have raised it—even though she committed today to not raising it, which tells us all we need to know—the one thing that would have helped pensioners in my constituency previously, instead of giving them that disgusting 75p rise, would have been Labour making good on its 1997 election pledge to link pensions to earnings. I am proud that we have done that, and it should put £5 or more into the pockets of pensioners.