New figures released today reveal the scale of the Government's
latest energy efficiency embarrassment - the latest in a decade
of failed schemes.
The Great British Insulation Scheme, which started operating in
May last year, was intended to help 300,000 households over three
years with energy-saving measures like loft and cavity wall
insulation and heating controls.
But in the nine months since May, only 4,648 households have
received any help.
Even if the pace of delivery achieved in January, the latest
month for which data is available and the best month of the
scheme to date, is maintained until the programme closes in March
2026, the Government will reach just 13% of its 300,000 target.
To hit this ambition, the scheme would need more than an
eightfold increase in monthly upgrades.
The Great British Insulation Scheme is just the latest in a long
line of underperforming efforts to upgrade Britain's housing
stock. Insulation rates declined by over 90% when scrapped successful
programmes inherited from Labour in 2013. In 2021, as Chancellor scrapped the
Green Homes Grant just 6 months after it was launched, having
reached just 10% of the 600,000 homes it was targeting.
Buildings are the second largest source of UK emissions, and UK
homes are some of the least well insulated in Europe.
MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
Security and Net Zero, said:
“This Government's dreadful record on energy efficiency is an
ongoing national scandal.
“Time and again, the Tory approach is to announce a half-baked
scheme and then walk away. They are completely disinterested in
doing the hard work of delivery.
“Meanwhile the British people are left with historically high
energy bills and the leakiest, coldest housing stock in Europe.
“Only Labour can turn this around, with our comprehensive Warm
Homes Plan to slash fuel poverty and upgrade millions of homes.”
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