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Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill

My hon. Friend says, ““Because we are trendy””—he should know better than most. Why do we talk about fuel poverty, but not about food poverty, clothing poverty or other aspects of poverty? Households have an income. Many households have an income provided solely by the state. People in households have to make decisions about how they dispose of that income, such as whether to spend it on clothing, food, cigarettes, beer, bingo, or fuel. It is bizarre to single out an alleged problem with fuel, but not those other discretionary expenditures. The situation is even more bizarre when one considers the huge variation in the circumstances that must inevitably exist in households and the difference in people’s attitudes to such matters. For example, some people might keep their heating turned on all the time, or too much of the time, and thus waste fuel. I know of no sensible way of measuring each person’s use of fuel, whether that is responsible or not. I know of no means through which even this intrusive Government can measure people’s individual lifestyles and the way in which they choose to spend their money on different aspects of discretionary or necessary expenditure. The whole concept of fuel poverty is thus total nonsense, so why we persist in including it in legislation is completely beyond my comprehension. Before anybody springs up and says, ““But what about the fuel handout that people get from this generous Government?””, let me point out that that payment is even more ridiculous. I suspect that many households do not spend the fuel handout on fuel at all. I will not ask hon. Members to reveal too much of what they know about how some people spend their Government, or taxpayer, fuel money—let us not go too far into that; suffice it to say that the payment itself was an absurd response to a perceived, yet completely false, problem. My first difficulty with the Bill is the fact that it repeats the nonsense of fuel poverty yet again and claims to provide a response to it. Clause 1(1) says that the Bill’s principal purpose is ““combating climate change””, which is a phrase to which I referred earlier. Clause 1(2) says:"““In performing functions under this Act, the relevant persons and bodies shall have regard to . . . the principal purpose set out in subsection (1) . . . the desirability of alleviating fuel poverty””—" I have touched on that—"““and . . . the desirability of securing a diverse and viable long-term energy supply.””" I can sign up to that. It is something in the Bill that I can support. It does not mean very much, but the desirability of securing a diverse and viable long-term energy supply is an admirable aspiration to which even I can sign up.