Fuel Poverty: England

Clive Efford Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

Order. I remind Members to bob if you want to speak; you will only get called if you are standing. That allows us to plan ahead and make sure we get everyone in. Because there are so many of you who want to speak, we will have an informal time limit of five minutes.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

Order. Before I call the next speaker, I inform Members that I have to impose a limit of four minutes if I am going to get everybody in by half past.

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[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) for leading the debate. Fuel poverty is huge and has no doubt been emphasised further through the loss of the winter fuel payment for elderly people. I commend the hon. Gentleman for Normanton and Hemsworth; I admire courage, and I admire his, because he had the guts—I could use another word, but it would not be parliamentary—to stand up and vote against that decision by his Government. Well done! We admire him for his courage and for the stand he took.

I wish to give a quick Northern Ireland perspective to back up the hon. Gentleman and the stand that he and others in the Chamber have taken. The Department for Communities back home defines a household as being in fuel poverty if it spends 10% of its income on energy costs. We are talking about a substantial section of the population. Others have outlined clearly that fuel poverty rates have fluctuated, and that is the case in Northern Ireland too, with rates of 44% in 2009 and 24% in 2021.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak in the energy debate led by the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse), which highlighted the correlation between the cost of energy and fuel poverty, and this debate is an opportunity to highlight that issue again. The increase in prices has meant that many are on the breadline, and that is not to mention the devastating impact that the loss of the winter fuel payment has had on our elderly generations. I have never had as many elderly people, pensioners, vulnerable people and people with complex health needs battling—I use that word on purpose, because it is the right word—the loss of the winter fuel allowance. I say this with respect to my colleagues on the Government Benches, but not supporting the winter fuel allowance for pensioners was wrong.

I wish the Minister well in her job, which she does to the best of her ability, and we welcome that. Has she had an opportunity to speak to the Department for Communities back home, which has responsibility for this issue? In his intervention, the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) said that this theme starts here at Westminster, but has she had an opportunity to discuss it with the relevant Minister? Back home, we have just—

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

Order. This is about fuel poverty in England and you are starting to talk about back home and your constituency. There are English MPs who want to get in on this debate, and we are running out of time, so draw your comments to a conclusion.

[Jim Shannon]

I will certainly do the best I can, Mr Efford.

The issue, no matter what, starts in Westminster—it is a fuel poverty debate on England that affects everybody in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—and decisions are made, right here, in this House. With that in mind, I ask the Minister again, will she speak to the relevant Minister on how we can do better?

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[Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby) (Lab)]

It is an honour, Mr Efford, to serve under your chairship. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Normanton and Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) for securing this hugely important debate; I have enjoyed the contributions to it.

According to the latest data from the House of Commons Library, almost one in five people—17%—in my constituency of Liverpool West Derby are living in fuel poverty, which is a shocking figure. However, that was the figure in 2022. Today the figure will be even higher, because as energy bills have gone up, so have the rates of fuel poverty.

National Energy Action estimates that in October 2021 4.5 million UK households were in fuel poverty. By January of this year, that figure had risen to 6.1 million. For older people, fuel poverty is linked to increased risk of stroke, heart attack, flu and hypothermia, and children growing up in cold, damp and mouldy homes suffer from higher rates of respiratory infections and asthma. I speak to my great friend Dr Ian Sinha from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital about the devastating impact of fuel poverty on children’s health, and we will always remember Awaab Ishak, who died because he lived in awful conditions.

That is why in September I voted to oppose the means-testing of the winter fuel allowance. In the run-up to that vote, I received more correspondence from constituents than at any other time in my five years as a Member of Parliament. They told me about the devastating impact that the cuts would have. Jennifer was terrified about the impact the cut would have on her and her husband’s declining health. Again and again and again, people told me how frightened they were about losing the allowance and the upcoming winter. I was true to my word and voted on their behalf, but I desperately regret that the cut went ahead.

Things are set to get worse. Forecasts suggest that the energy price cap could rise by nearly 3% in April. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on motor neurone disease, I have heard first hand about the impact of the cuts within the motor neurone disease community. Along with 40 other MPs from across Parliament, I signed a letter to the Chancellor about the impact of this cut. Research shows that people living with motor neurone disease spend an estimated £14,500 extra to cope with cold conditions. The decision to restrict the winter fuel payments to those receiving means-tested benefits will acutely impact the MND community. Ian Lev, an MND sufferer, said that

“My bills will increase in the winter because we must keep our bodies warm. This is a real kick in the pants for me, because I need everything I can. In my nine years of motor neurone disease, my expenditure has been approximately £100,000.”

And Alex Massey from the Motor Neurone Disease Association says that

“Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment will take no account of the unavoidable costs of living with a highly disabling condition like MND. People coping with this devastating condition do not deserve to lose the support they rely on this winter.”

Even as more people are dragged into fuel poverty, the energy companies, as has been outlined already, continue to make a killing. Just yesterday, BP announced record annual profits of £8 billion. Collectively, 20 energy companies have made a staggering £483 billion in profits since the start of the energy bill crisis. Sky-high energy bills for our constituents equals obscene profits for these giant corporations.

To conclude, I really welcome the Government’s review of the fuel poverty strategy. We should tax energy companies and end fuel poverty, reintroduce the winter fuel allowance as a universal benefit to ensure that nobody falls through the cracks, committing to a social tariff—to lower energy bills for low-income households—and to ramping up the warm home plan to insulate homes across the country, in order to cut both bills and carbon. I really hope that all these things are in the Government’s review.

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

We are bang on time, so thank you very much, everyone. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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[Jim Shannon]

In questions, urgent questions and statements in the Chamber, I have been keen to ensure that every part of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland can benefit from strategies in this House and that the ripples go out to everywhere. In my contribution, I asked the Minister again whether there would be an opportunity to discuss the matter with the relevant Minister back home. I know the Minister is committed to that. Will she please update me on where those talks and discussions have gone, so that we can all benefit?

[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

In relation to England, you mean.

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

Let me reassure the hon. Member that we are talking to all devolved Administrations. There are common challenges that we all face and common solutions. We are working in collaboration; we have an interministerial working group, and I am having direct conversations with all devolved Administrations as we take forward our plans.

We are also trying to work with everyone. The challenge we face to turn around the trajectory on fuel poverty is huge and the inheritance is tough, so we want to draw on the expertise of consumer groups, industry and academia as we develop our plan on fuel poverty.

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[Clive Efford (in the Chair)]

Order. Can I just say that I need to bring in the mover of the motion for a couple of minutes at the end? Thank you, Minister.

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

Let me address the points made by Members from rural constituencies. This plan has to work for every part of the country and we have to have solutions for every house. Rather than the Government dictating solutions from on high in Whitehall, we need to empower the system to figure out the best way to deliver warm homes for people across the country. That means thinking about the range and mix of solutions that go into people’s homes, so that they can have low-carbon options, but also options that work for their pockets.

Alongside what we need to do through our warm homes plan, it is important to say that we must also deal with the question of supporting households on bills. That is why going into this winter, wanting to do everything we can to support the most vulnerable, I worked with energy suppliers to get them to commit to £500 million of industry support for people this winter so that we can get help to households that we know are struggling. The Government have also extended the household support fund until 31 March 2026 with an extra £752 million. We are providing the cold weather payment and our Department is providing the warm home discount to more than 3 million households. The Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2022 expire in 2026, so we want to consider options for the future.

Members talked about a social tariff. The challenge with the social tariff, which we are hearing about across the piece, is that it means different things to different people. However, we are looking at all the options to make sure we can provide the support that people need.

In conclusion, I understand Members’ passion; I share their passion and their commitment. Energy is not a luxury good. It is not a “nice to have”. It is foundational for people, but it is out of reach for some. That is a shame and a stain on us, and we are determined to turn things around.