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Fuel Poverty Bill

I begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) on bringing in his Bill today. He has done the House a real service in doing so, thereby allowing us to debate some extremely important issues associated with fuel poverty. Nobody in the House today has argued to the contrary of the Bill's general purpose. We can all agree with the purpose of the Bill as set out in clause 1—to eradicate fuel poverty. My main concern lies in the detail of the Bill, especially the points that I put to the hon. Gentleman earlier. My hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) said that the Bill was aspirational. Indeed, but my concern is that it is also extremely prescriptive and, to quote the phrase used by the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), that it will have unintended consequences. My Committee, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, has done a lot of work recently on justiciability in the context of the Bill of Rights, and in particular in the context of social and economic rights. I suppose one could say that the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome is trying to introduce a social and economic right—the right not to be in fuel poverty. However, I am not convinced that that is what he is doing. He is bringing in a social and economic duty rather than a right, and there is a significant difference between the two. A duty on the Secretary of State to do something is one thing. A right on the part of an individual citizen as against the state is something else. There is nothing in the Bill that gives the citizen the right to have the measures taken to deal with fuel poverty. It is simply the other side of the coin. That approaches the issue from the wrong direction. On the one hand, there is the duty on the Secretary of State. On the other hand, where is the liberty of the individual? What, for example, if someone does not want to have those measures taken? It is unlikely, but it is possible that some old lady might say, "I don't want to have the work done. It's too disruptive. I'd rather pay the bigger bills. I know they are big bills and I don't like them, but I can't face the idea of workmen coming in." But it may well be that the only way the Secretary of State could meet the duty under clause 2(1) as drafted is by forcing that individual to have the work done. That cannot be right. Under article 8 of the European convention on human rights,"" Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence."" That right is qualified by paragraph 2 of article 8, which says that the state can interfere if it is for""the economic well-being of the country"." I would hate to think that the Secretary of State would have to rely on that to meet the duty. That cannot be right, but it is one of the unintended consequences of the way the Bill is phrased.