Labour cuts for fuel poverty charity senseless says AM

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 5th Mar 2008

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Social Justice, Peter Black has reacted angrily to the news that Gordon Brown's Labour Party is to slash its grant to the National Energy Action charity (NEA) by 25%.

Mr. Black said:

"NEA is the only UK charity which is concerned with fuel poverty. It gives important advice to councils and housing associations on fuel poverty, tests products, and puts together statistics for government.

"Slashing its budget is senseless, especially when the government is set to miss its own legally-binding target of eliminating fuel poverty across the country by 2018.

"On top of that, the number of people in fuel poverty rises every time the power companies ramp up their charges.

"Wales already suffers from the disfigurement of fuel poverty, and Labour has no plan to combat it.

Labour will not take action to curb the power companies who are so swift to raise prices when their costs go up, but slow to reduce them when costs fall.

Labour has slashed spending on programmes to provide insulation to people on lower incomes by almost a quarter over the next three years.

Labour cut the only national charity working in the area.

"Labour missing a target is not really news - they miss so many. It is what lies behind the figures in terms of real people who have to choose between food and warmth, or choose not to live in part of their homes because they cannot afford to heat them properly.