Energy crisis is crippling residents and businesses
Stirling’s MP has called on UK Government ministers to intervene over rising energy prices over fears of the impact of the issue on businesses in the region.
Alyn Smith has written to the Energy Minister Grant Shapps citing figures from the Centre for Retail Research which show 17,000 stores shut their doors across the UK in 2022, with concerns that the stopping of state support over energy bills at the end of March could act as a hammer blow.
The issue of the decline of the high street has been one keenly felt in Stirling, with a range of initiatives being launched to encourage footfall the city’s main shopping streets following the impact of out-of-town and online shopping, as well as the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Stirling’s CAB told the Observer last month that requests for impartial advice on fuel poverty had increased by more than 300 per cent over 2022 as households grapple with how to make bills add up during the cost-of-living crisis.
In his letter to Mr Shapps, Mr Smith says he is “alarmed” by a lack of urgent action to regulate the energy market.
Commenting on the situation, Mr Smith said: “The UK energy market is demonstrably broken, for households and businesses alike.
“State support schemes have been sluggish and should have gone further, and many otherwise viable businesses are facing financial ruin through no fault of their own.
“Years of underinvestment, a broken privatised energy market and poor strategic oversight of energy supply, source and storage by the UK Government has left Stirling, along with the rest of energy-rich Scotland, vulnerable to this global shock.
“It is an outrage that pensioners and other vulnerable households face the choice between heating and eating when they can literally see renewable energy produced by wind turbines from their windows.
“I’ll be standing up for Stirling’s communities and businesses, and holding the UK Government’s feet to the fire alongside my fellow SNP colleagues.
“The UK energy market is broken – only with the powers of independence can Scotland rebuild a fairer, greener and more efficient energy system fit for the future.”