Archived press release

MPs pass Bill to end fuel poverty

21 July 2000

The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Bill today completed its final stages in the House of Commons, and now goes on to Lords. It is expected to become law this autumn. The Bill, piloted through the Commons by David Amess MP (Conservative, Southend West) puts a legal duty on the Government to end "fuel poverty" - the situation where people cannot afford to keep their homes warm in the winter - in England and Wales within 15 years. The Bill eventually won the support of all MPs despite earlier opposition from 2 Conservative MPs, Eric Forth and David Maclean [1].

The Bill will require a major increase in insulation schemes run by the Government and local authorities to raise building insulation and heating system standards.

Around 5 million households in England alone currently spend over 10% of their income to heat their homes to an acceptable level. Approximately 1 million homes spend 1 in every 5 to keep warm [2]. As a result, millions of people go cold every winter . There are well established links between cold homes and ill-health. Over half these "fuel poor" are elderly, and the impact on health leads to dramatic increases in both hospital admissions for cold-related illness (bronchitis, pneumonia, influenza), and dramatic increases in the death rate. In the last winter for which figures are available (1998-99) 49,000 more people died in the winter than in an equivalent period in the rest of the year [3]. This increase far outstrips that seen in other European countries - even colder countries such as Sweden and Norway.

Martyn Williams, Campaign Organiser and Parliamentary Campaigner at FOE said:
"This is a huge step towards ending fuel poverty. When it becomes law, as now looks likely, the Government will be legally required to help millions of people keep warm. "Fuel poverty" is an obscenity and disgrace. Today MPs of all parties have shown that they agree and have now voted to end this disgraceful situation."

David Amess MP said
"Having been lucky enough to get the chance to introduce a Bill I am delighted I have been able to pilot such a crucial Bill through the Commons. There is clearly a lot of work that now needs to be done to make sure people can keep warm and well, but we can now argue about how to do this, not whether or not to do this."

[1] English House Condition Survey 1996
[2] Figures from the Office for National Statistics
[3] Eric Forth and David Maclean had opposed the Bill at its Second Reading (10.3.00), its Money Clause (4.4.00) and had tabled around 60 amendments at the last minute before its first scheduled Report Stage (9.6.00) which the Bills sponsors believed were intended to prevent the Bill from becoming law by causing it to run out of time.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust