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Fuel Poverty Bill

I congratulate the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) on his good fortune in doing well in the ballot. I broadly support his Bill, because fuel poverty has dire effects on the health and the quality of life of the people who suffer from it. It is a curious irony that the badly-off, who live in badly insulated homes, are not only cold but pay energy companies more to be left cold than the well-off and well insulated pay to be kept warm. We therefore clearly need to address this problem. Although I welcome the Bill—I am sure that other people will go through it in detail—I want to draw more attention to one of the reasons why there has been a rise in fuel poverty recently: the grotesque rise in the cost of fuel and power, and how the prices that are being charged to the fuel poor are stuffing the pockets of the fuel racketeers. The recent surge in oil prices—crude oil went up to $140 a barrel—did not reflect any shortage of oil. There was never any shortage of oil: the surge was entirely the result of speculation. A cargo of oil leaving one of the Gulf states would have been bought and sold a dozen times before it arrived at a refinery in Europe or north America, because the speculators were at work. Even more unjustified is the surge in the price of natural gas. The price of natural gas, by what can only be described as a cartel subscribed to by most major Governments, as well as the producers, is tied automatically to the price of oil. There is no natural connection at all between the supply of natural gas and the supply of oil—just an agreed fix with the major producers and major-producer Governments that that is what will happen, so there was even less justification for the huge surge in the price of natural gas. I therefore believe very strongly that, among its myriad tasks when it meets, the G20 should, first, declare a determination to stamp out the activities of the fuel price speculators and racketeers.