Boris Johnson today refused to take any leadership to tackle fuel poverty in London. He was questioned at Mayor’s Question Time directly about what measures he has put in place to insulate Londoners from the impact of another round of double-digit price rises by 'the big six'.
All of the “big six” energy firms have now announced price rises above inflation for this winter with official figures indicating that London has the highest gas bills in the country. Fuel poverty resulted in 2,800 excess winter deaths in London in 2011/12.
Murad Qureshi AM, London Assembly Labour Group Environment spokesperson said:
“The Mayor is prepared to defend the super-rich but he won’t show leadership and take the lead in tackling fuel poverty in London. Boris is failing to stand up for vulnerable Londoners and be a Mayor “for all of London”. He has left Londoners at the mercy of the energy rip-off merchants with ineffective programmes and no real strategy to tackle fuel poverty.
“Londoners are facing a cost of living crisis. Rising energy bills are one of the biggest domestic utility bills Londoners have to pay. Londoners have been let down by a Mayor who pledged to “campaign against the fuel companies who are ripping off the consumer” but has delivered little.
“The Mayor’s RE:NEW programme is delivering well short of its targets; the Energy Companies continue to drag their feet in delivering Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in the capital and the Green Deal has become a joke with only 57 households having measures installed so far set against a target of insulating 14 million homes by 2020.”
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Notes
- Murad Qureshi is a London Assembly Member and the London Assembly Labour Group Environment spokesperson.
- Figure of 2,800 excess winter deaths taken from: Office for National Statistics Excess Winter deaths data 2010-12 p. 11, found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_288362.pdf
- Murad Qureshi AM’s question can be found here: /moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=183&MId=5177
- A recording of Mayor’s Question Time can be found here: /mayor-assembly/london-assembly/webcasts