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Fuel Poverty Bill

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for those guidelines. The two issues are interrelated: fuel poverty and people's ability to afford their energy bills mean that they need new boilers, and that is part of what has been hit. The fact is that we are putting those people into fuel poverty because they cannot afford the top-up and cannot replace the boiler. Someone who goes to the local CORGI-registered firm for an installation can pay half the price—or certainly a lot less—but people are not allowed to use those local firms because the contract has been given to eaga. That is why it needs to be looked at and why there ought to be flexibility in the system. Another problem is that people who are in fuel poverty end up replacing the boiler and are then sold insurance. Somehow, we need to look at this situation, because it is adding to the problems of fuel poverty. I believe that the Bill is important. I wish it well in its progress, and I hope that in Committee we can reflect on the issues between the Government and the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome. That is where those issues can be overcome. We all want to do the best by our constituents, and that is why this Bill needs to go through to Committee so that we can overcome those issues. I know that the Ministers have sympathy with the aims of the Bill; they should let that sympathy work in Committee rather than block the Bill now. I see no reason for blocking the Bill.