FUEL POVERTY

With a quarter of Scottish households living in fuel poverty, exacerbated by the high cost of fuel, and the hardship that in-work poverty and universal credit is causing, it is essential that the UK Government recognises this and takes steps to deal with it.

In this day and age, no one should have to live in a freezing home.

It is time that fuel poverty was tackled in a meaningful way, so that people can enjoy a minimum level of comfort in their homes. The Scottish Government are doing important work on defining fuel poverty - one of the first European countries to do so - and have set a target to cut fuel poverty to 5% by 2040. The UK Government must follow this lead and step up and use their powers to do what they can to deal with this social blight that looms over too many households in the cold, dark months.

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