Chris Nicholson calls for action against Fuel Poverty

10.59.00am GMT Thu 12th Mar 2009

Chris Nicholson has thrown his support behind a Fuel Poverty Bill currently going through Parliament.

The Bill would require the Government to introduce a strategy to get every home in fuel poverty up to standard by 2016. It also calls for the introduction of social tariffs to cut fuel bills for the poorest families.

Millions of people in Britain suffer from fuel poverty. Currently 20,000 people needlessly die from the cold each year, and many more become ill. The Bill would make a huge difference to those people who struggle to heat their homes, as well as preventing energy waste by improving insulation and providing work for thousands of builders and insulators.

"It is unacceptable that hard-pressed families have to make the choice between feeding their children and keeping their home warm," wrote Chris in a letter to Keith Hill MP asking him to support the Bill. "And yet that is what we face in Britain today, with fuel prices more than doubling over five years and so many homes poorly insulated so that energy is wasted."

As Chris noted in the letter, the Bill has the support of environmental organisations, organisations working on behalf of the elderly and anti-poverty groups.

The Bill was introduced by David Heath MP, Liberal Democrat MP for the Somerton and Frome constituency in Somerset.