It is a disgrace that tens of thousands of older people in Britain face such high energy bills that they have to choose between eating and heating. Colder countries than ours build and insulate their homes properly.

1st- 5th of February is Cold Homes Week; a week of action on fuel poverty and winter deaths. Age UK and the Energy Bill Revolution are calling on Government to consign cold homes to history by making energy efficiency a national infrastructure priority.

In support of its austerity agenda, this government has sidelined schemes to insulate houses, replace boilers and heating controls. They have dropped the requirement for all new homes to be built to increasingly higher standards of energy efficiency. The money being saved is probably being spent many times over on extra unnecessary hospital admissions by older people with cold-related health issues.

Robert Palgrave

How Caple