Tory I won’t add fuel aid for cold Scots
The UK Government has ruled out extra help for Scottish families being plunged into poverty by rocketing energy bills.
Households north of the Border are disproportionately hammered by massive gas and electricity price hikes due to the colder climate and higher levels of poorly insulated property.
There are also claims energy companies charge more in Scotland due to higher transmission costs.
Restaurant manager Louise Kelly, 51, from Braemar in the Highlands, told how she has been forced to revert to a coal fire because she can’t afford electricity.
It is feared thousands of poverty-stricken families will be forced to choose between heating and eating as the cost-of-living crisis bites further later this year when the energy price cap is lifted.
But in an exclusive interview with the
Sunday Mail, the UK Government’s Chief
Secretary to the
Treasury Simon Clarke has ruled out new support measures to specifically help Scottish people.
He said: “No, we won’t act on a national basis.
“What we will do, I can promise, is make sure that we continue to look at this question very closely because energy costs are the biggest single driver of the increase in household living costs.
“The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the cumulative effect of what we have done for the poorest in society has offset the increase in cost of living last year, which I think is a significant achievement.
“One in three UK households, about eight million people, are getting £1200 of direct cash support, which equates to the increase in the cost of energy, even allowing for the October anticipated price rise.
“Pensioners are getting £850 and most households are getting £550.
“We are confident it’s the right package and we’re confident it will allow people this winter to stay warm across the UK.”
But Scottish and UK Labour leaders Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer have both said they support extra help for households in the coldest areas.
In a joint interview with Starmer, Sarwar said: “There’s a disproportionately higher level of fuel poverty in the North East of Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands, and I believe there does have to be extra support to support those areas.”
Starmer added: “I agree entirely with that, we are joined at the hip on these issues.”
The price to heat an average property is expected to top £2000 a year in 2022.
Gas and electricity prices are expected to rocket again in October when a government price cap is further lifted.
In March, researchers found Argyll and Bute had the highest energy bills in UK and would be worst affected by price hikes.
The area was followed by the Western Isles, the Highland and Aberdeenshire.