MP raising funds to buy electric blankets

PLYMOUTH MP Luke Pollard is aiming to raise £2,000 to buy electric blankets and help cash-strapped families to keep warm this winter.

The Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Labour MP has launched the fundraiser jointly with Plymouth Foodbank, urging people to “heat the human not the home” and help people facing huge energy bills.

The campaign aims to purchase 100 electric blankets – also known as heated throws – which are a cheaper way to stay warm and save on energy bills. Within two days of launching the appeal, it had raised £700.

The campaign will also raise awareness of the difficult choices people in Plymouth are making between turning their heating on each evening and warming food.

Mr Pollard and Andrew Denham, project coordinator at Plymouth Foodbank, are working together on the campaign. The MP said he could not “stand by and do nothing when faced with such a crisis”.

As temperatures drop and the cost of living continues to rise, many are thinking twice before switching on the heating.

Typical household energy prices are capped at £2,500 until April 2023. In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced the cap will rise to £3,000. Rocketing interest rates and inflation are already squeezing people’s finances.

With budgets already stretched, households across the UK are on the look-out for ways to cut down their energy usage. Typical gas central heating costs £6.76 to run over a six-hour period. Electric blankets cost a 20p to run over the same time period.

In October, Mr Pollard urged Plymouth City Council to create “heat banks” across Plymouth – warm spaces for people struggling to afford their heating. Plymouth Foodbank has seen a marked increase in usage due to the cost-of-living crisis, serving 11,646 extra meals between August and November 2022, compared to the same time period in 2021.

Mr Pollard said: “The cost-ofliving crisis means families in Plymouth will be turning their heating off in the winter because many people simply cannot afford their bills. Cold homes are a health risk and could even result in more vulnerable people dying but soaring energy costs means people will turn the heating off no matter what help is provided, so we need to help keep people warm. Electric blankets cost little to run, so that’s why I’m working with Plymouth Foodbank to help heat the human, not the home. In a rich country like Britain, we should not need fundraising campaigns like this, but I simply cannot stand by and do nothing.”