Labour challenges Sunak and Truss to reverse Tory home insulation failures
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Labour challenges Sunak and Truss to reverse Tory home
insulation failures and back Labour’s Warm Homes Plan that
would save British families £11.4 billion off energy
bills in just three years. Labour has today challenged
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to back Labour’s plan that
would bring down energy bills for British families by £11.4bn
in the next three years alone. The national emergency of rising
energy bills has again...Request free
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Labour challenges Sunak and Truss to reverse Tory home insulation failures and back Labour’s Warm Homes Plan that would save British families £11.4 billion off energy bills in just three years. Labour has today challenged Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to back Labour’s plan that would bring down energy bills for British families by £11.4bn in the next three years alone. The national emergency of rising energy bills has again highlighted the urgent importance of insulating as many homes as possible. The UK spends more money on energy wasted through the walls and roofs of our houses than any other country in Western Europe - and upgrading the energy efficiency of homes would cut bills for families and build the UK’s energy independence.[1] In September 2021, Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer called for an urgent “national mission” to upgrade every one of the 19 million homes that need it across the country over the next decade through Labour’s Warm Homes Plan. [2] This plan would save an average of £1,000 per home, meaning that if 1.9 million homes were insulated a year, the savings in the first three years alone would be £11.4bn, if energy prices remain high, as predicted.[3] Spiralling energy bills have brought to attention the decade of failure by the Conservatives to introduce a proper national energy efficiency plan. Under the Conservatives, home insulation rates have plummeted- with insulation rates falling to below 15 times less than the rate the last Labour Government were achieving before 2010. [4] Both candidates for Prime Minister have poor records on home insulation. As Chancellor, Rishi Sunak reportedly blocked attempts to fulfil the Conservative’s manifesto commitments to investment in energy efficiency. [5] Meanwhile, the person that Liz Truss is expected to name Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, was the Minister of State and then Secretary of State responsible for the disastrous Green Homes Grant scheme, which was described as “botched” and a National Audit Office report found wasted over £1bn of taxpayer money. The scheme was allocated £1.5bn to insulate 600,000 home projects, but less than 50,000 were eventually completed before the scheme closed with vast administration costs. [6] Labour has now challenged both candidates to commit to Labour’s Warm Homes Plan as an urgent national priority. If the Government had implemented this scheme when Labour originally called for it, 2 million of the coldest homes by this winter could be upgraded by this winter– saving households over £2 billion on their energy bills this year alone. [7] Insulating homes would not only support over half a million jobs in the construction and associated sectors, but would also safeguard the UK’s energy security by reducing our demand for foreign energy. Labour’s plan would cut national gas imports by up to 15%- more than the total value of all gas we import from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. [8] Ed Miliband, Labour’s Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary said: “Britain is facing a national cost of living emergency. 12 years of failure by the Conservatives to insulate our homes is one of the reasons that energy bills are so high. Too many working people and pensioners live in draughty, cold homes with high heating costs. “Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss bear responsibility for the Conservatives failures on this vital national agenda. Unless they change course and adopt Labour’s plan, pensioners will go cold, bills will stay high, and we will have to import more gas from Putin and his cronies. “If the Conservatives were serious about cutting energy bills, they could start right now, by delivering the Warm Homes Plan that Labour has called for. A proper national mission would save 19 million families over £1,000 on their bills, as well as creating good construction jobs, and boosting our energy security. “But this is not a Government that is on working people’s side, with no solutions to the challenges this country faces, refusing to implement Labour’s energy price freeze. Only Labour can give Britain the fresh start it needs - with a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis now and build a more secure country.” Ends Background notes: Conservative failure:
Labour’s plan:
Footnotes:
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