On 6th March, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered the spring statement - the government’s latest budget - in the House of Commons. Less than a year out from a general election, all eyes were on the announcement.
We needed to see a budget that would help deliver warm homes and cheaper energy. But while the windfall tax on energy firms’ profits and the Household Support Fund were both extended for limited periods, other support measures end on 31st March. And the windfall tax is still full of loopholes that let wealthy energy giants get away with paying what they truly owe. New funding for energy efficiency support was also glaringly absent.
So we went to the Treasury after the announcement along with Friends of the Earth to highlight what this budget represents: cold homes and high bills.
Fiona Waters from Warm This Winter said:
“Hunt’s budget is a waste of energy that will still leave millions out in the cold.
There’s some cold comfort in the extension of the Housing Support Fund but it will barely make a dent in the huge debt ordinary people have now built up as they struggle to pay sky high bills that are still 60% more than three years ago.
Families, pensioners, children and the poor are freezing as energy companies make a billion pounds in profit each and every week. We need a government that’s not afraid to mend our broken energy system and put people first.”
Here’s how the Warm This Winter coalition reacted:
Fuel Poverty Action were joined by groups including Unite Community, National Pensioners Convention, Medact, Homes For All, DPAC, Friends of the Earth and more for a day of action in support of #EnergyForAll. Events took place in more than 12 towns and cities across the UK, including a demo in Westminster as the Chancellor was delivering his speech.
Campaigners from Greenpeace also criticised the government’s failure to act on the UK’s cold, draughty homes, using insulation material to create a mock cemetery outside the Houses of Parliament with a floral tribute reading “Cold homes cost lives”.
A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition commented:
“What we needed from the Chancellor was a long term plan for warm homes and cheaper energy, but instead the government has condemned families to another winter in cold homes and has failed to fund reform to Britain’s broken energy system.
“The government is pulling the plug on support for households in fuel poverty. The Energy Price Guarantee and the cost of living payments now join the Energy Bills Support Scheme on a bonfire of policies that were helping people with surging energy bills. The Household Support Fund will be extended, but only for another 6 months – ending before next winter sets in.
“But as this support is axed, the price households pay for their energy is still 60% higher than in 2021 and levels of energy debt are soaring. Meanwhile the wider cost of living crisis means people simply can’t afford to keep the lights on.
“While the extension of the Windfall Tax is a recognition that the energy crisis is not over, economists estimate that it has actually shaved £18bn off the cost of extracting fossil fuels over next three years by increasing energy firms’ tax relief allowances. This loophole must be closed.”
Will Walker, UK Policy Lead at Ashden, commented:
"The country is crying out for bold government leadership and a credible plan to address the triple-whammy of energy security, fuel poverty and the climate crisis. This has to be done through sustainable clean growth. Any plan needs to be backed with the right powers, resources and incentives to empower communities, leverage investment, upskill and expand the workforce, and revive the economy.”
“The chancellor said he wanted to ‘build up our resilience to future shocks’. However, in reality he failed to 'read the room' and delivered a budget that misses the fact that citizens, by and large, care more about long-term investment in public services and getting help with their energy bills than short-term tax cuts.”
Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
“We need a Chancellor for the future, not one stuck in the past. Money spent on renewables, home insulation and better public transport would not only boost the economy; it would also protect health, slash energy bills and help the UK play its part in the fight against the growing climate crisis.”
Commenting on the Chancellor's decision to extend energy windfall tax by one year, he added:
“The Chancellor is right to continue the energy windfall tax – but he should have extended it for more than a year and closed the ridiculous loopholes that allow companies to offset their tax by drilling for more costly and polluting fossil fuels.”
Jonathan Bean from Fuel Poverty Action added:
“Removing the loopholes in windfall taxes on huge energy firm profits would fund essential energy for all.”
