Energy Costs in Wales

Jessica Morden Excerpts

Tuesday 11th October 2022 Westminster Hall

[Anna McMorrin]

The hon. Member makes exactly the right point. We want to hear from the Minister as to why that challenge is not being addressed. This week is also Hospice Care Week, and the families supported by Tŷ Hafan and Tŷ Gobaith—the two children’s hospices in Wales—really are the ones on the frontline in this energy crisis. Tŷ Hafan is facing a sixfold increase in energy costs at a time when it is also facing rising demand for its services. It could never have foreseen what was to come, and it is the families who rely on its support that suffer. The Welsh Government have provided support to the hospice with the funding uplift. However, the Chancellor is yet even to respond to its letter. The Business Secretary’s response was to assure hospices that they would be prioritised for additional support. Will the Minister confirm whether that is the case? The evidence clearly suggests the opposite.

Let me explain to the Minister the human cost of continued inaction. My constituent Emma has a son called Jack, who has cerebral palsy. Emma does not have the option of not using energy. She relies on it for Jack’s lifesaving equipment. Emma sadly lost her son Tom, Jack’s twin, to the deadly disease. It is families such as Emma’s who face nearly £600 more a month in bills. The support that Tŷ Hafan provides to families is invaluable. Will the Minister tell those families whether they will get an emergency assistance payment, and when that specialist support will be given to the hospices on which they so heavily rely?

The chairman of the Conservative party, the right hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry), said that people should just get better jobs. Emma is Jack’s full-time carer, living off just £850 a month in universal credit, topped up with a carer’s allowance. How would she manage? Will the Minister tell Emma whether the Government intend to uprate benefits in line with current inflation rates, so that she and her family can live and not just barely survive?

The UK Government’s attitude towards hospices in Wales reflects their attitude towards Wales in general—our organisations and people alike. It is an attitude of disdain and neglect. The fact that the Government are planning for energy blackouts says it all. In short, it means that people will die. What action will the UK Government take to ensure that families of seriously ill children, who rely on that lifesaving equipment at home, have access to a secure and constant supply of energy—or will the Government have blood on their hands?

Support for energy bills only goes so far. Too many homes are poorly insulated and their bills will rise at a far higher rate. Since 2011, the Welsh Labour Government’s warm homes programme has invested more than £400 million in more than 67,000 homes to improve home energy efficiency across Wales. Under Labour’s warm homes plan, we aim to insulate 19 million homes in a decade across the whole of the UK.

In a display of utter incompetency, this Prime Minister has defied her own official advice and blocked plans for a public information campaign asking people to save energy over the winter. Apparently, she is ideologically opposed to that. Will the Minister confirm whether he is too? Is he ideologically opposed to urging people to keep an eye on usage, saving households £8.4 billion and avoiding blackouts?

Insulation measures are not just about cost. Old, poorly insulated homes are more likely to be cold, mouldy or damp, which can cause significant long-term physical and mental health problems. It is astounding that councils are now forced to open warm hubs. Just yesterday, our Labour-run Cardiff Council launched its warm welcome space; anyone who is struggling to heat their home can go to the local hub or library, to be greeted with a warm welcome and a free hot drink—but that is shocking.

We must remember that this crisis is caused by a dependency on oil and gas. It will not be solved by increasing dependency. Gas costs nine times more than renewables. This Tory Government are intent on locking us into a fossil fuel era, with high bills and an ever worsening climate crisis. The Prime Minister refuses to understand that the climate crisis and energy crisis go hand in hand. The Government cannot tackle one without tackling the other. I know well that the Minister agrees, and I would like to hear him say so today.

Rising seas and extreme weather events are costing lives. Our younger generations are being robbed of their future. Climate change presents an opportunity to change the way we live. Labour is committed to a great British energy company that will deliver clean power by 2030, saving UK households £93 billion over the rest of the decade. What was the UK Government’s answer? To lift the ban on fracking—yet another broken manifesto pledge to deliver the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth.

Rest assured, the ban on fracking in Wales is still firmly in place, and the Welsh Government will do everything in their power to pick up the pieces where the Tory Government have fallen woefully short, whether that is for businesses at the heart of our community that risk closing their doors for good due to spiralling, unaffordable energy prices; for people like my constituent, who tragically told me that his elderly mother felt she would be better off dead than forced to pay such astronomical energy prices; or for those who are cutting back on their essential groceries or relying on food banks just to get by.

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

In an earlier comment, my hon. Friend mentioned prepayment meters. For those who use prepayment meters, £3.50 of every £10 that they top up goes on charges, and South Wales has one of highest rates in the UK. Does she agree that we really need to address that issue?

[Anna McMorrin]

Absolutely. It is an area we need to focus on, and I hope the Minister will have an answer to that issue today.

The examples I have given show the real human cost of the energy crisis. I hope that this Conservative Government for once bear that in mind, instead of fighting one another like cats and dogs. The people paying the true cost of the energy crisis in Wales must not be forgotten or sidelined.