Tom Gordon MP slams Budget home insulation cuts as 5,183 households in Harrogate and Knaresborough face fuel poverty this winter

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has demanded urgent action from the Government as figures show 5,183 households in the area are estimated to be living in fuel poverty.

Following the Chancellor’s Budget announcement to cut funding for energy efficiency schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), Tom Gordon has called on the government to “get serious” about lowering energy bills for good. 

Data reveals the ECO scheme has installed 3,759 in Harrogate and Knaresborough, providing desperately needed insulation for families who are struggling to meet heating costs. 

The government’s decision to cut the ECO scheme will leave thousands of families in draughty homes and facing high energy bills, when as much as half of the government’s energy bill support announced in the Budget will expire in three years’ time.

Liberal Democrats are calling for the government to fully fund home insulation measures with an emergency home upgrade programme to provide free insulation and heat pumps for people on low incomes. The party has also called for the biggest green levy on people’s electricity bills (the Renewables Obligation) to be removed immediately and for the government to halve energy bills by 2035 by breaking the link between electricity and gas prices. 

Commenting on the figures, Tom Gordon MP said:

“Across Harrogate and Knaresborough, 5,183 households living in fuel poverty face the heart-breaking choice between heating and eating.”

“As we head into winter, the government must get serious about lowering people’s bills for good. Raiding schemes that help families bring down their energy costs to make the sums add up in the Budget is short sighted and will leave people struggling with their energy bills worse off."

“We need an ambitious emergency home upgrade programme to make homes warm and cheap to heat now and in future. The Liberal Democrats have a clear plan to upgrade homes and halve bills.”