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Fuel Poverty

A happy new year to you, Sir Nicholas. It is a pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn (Mr. Touhig). Many of the things that he said and that my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) said in his excellent speech are accepted overwhelmingly in the House. I congratulate my hon. Friend on introducing the debate, which could not be more timely. I am sure that he will not mind if I recall that just about a year ago, on 23 January last year, I initiated a similar debate in which several points that have been made today were made, and rightly so. The difference was the atmosphere in which the debate took place, which was not like the one today. At that time, wholesale prices had gone down but the energy companies simply refused to pass the decreases on to consumers. Today, at the first hint of an increase in wholesale prices—and the message is there—the prices charged by some companies have gone up, and there is no evidence to suggest that other companies will not follow exactly that line. The House is entitled to be impatient. I wish to thank the various consumer groups, including Energywatch, which campaigned strongly on the issue. Last year, in due course, we did secure a reduction. It did not really reflect the reduction on wholesale prices, but it was a reduction. We had high hopes that all our worries about the impact on constituents who are elderly, on low pay or in ill health would be addressed. My hon. Friend rightly referred to the Government's admirable policies. We welcome not just tax credits, pension credits and other benefits but the specific payments for heating, which I understand amounted to some £2 billion last winter. We encourage the Government to recognise their social responsibilities, and I believe that they are doing so. However, there is another point that ought to be made.