energy poverty

It’s time to ban MPs from taking donations from fossil fuel firms

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/its-time-to-ban-mps-from-taking-donations-from-fossil-fuel-firms/ Many articles from LeftFootForward today.

We need to build a firewall between politicians and the oil and gas firms driving the climate crisis.

Richard Burgon is the Labour MP for Leeds East

The same oil and gas giants behind the record energy bills that have forced so many into poverty have also brought us to the cliff edge of climate catastrophe.

If we are to have a fighting chance of preventing the worst of the climate crisis, then we need to rapidly cut fossil fuel use. Key to that is breaking the vast power that oil and gas companies have over our politics.

That’s why this week I will present a Bill in the House of Commons to ban MPs from receiving funding or any other benefit from oil and gas companies.

My Private Members Bill would stop MPs from taking any second jobs with, or receiving any donations, gifts, hospitality or benefits-in-kind from, any company that makes more than 50% of its annual revenue from oil or gas.

It would also force the Government to end investments by the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund in any oil and gas companies.

The aim of my Bill is simple: to build a firewall between our political decision-makers and the oil and gas corporations that have knowingly caused the climate crisis.

For decades, oil and gas giants used their vast financial power to confuse and undermine the science about the role of fossil fuels in driving climate change. More recently, their focus has moved on throwing huge sums at delaying, blocking and weakening global climate action.

Fossil fuel money also pollutes British politics. The Tory Party received £3.5m from donors with fossil fuel, polluter and climate denial links in 2022 according to an analysis of Electoral Commission records by DeSmog, an investigative website focused on global warming misinformation campaigns.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/04/its-time-to-ban-mps-from-taking-donations-from-fossil-fuel-firms/

dizzy: Despite this article having been written by a Labour MP it should not be assumed that the UK Labour Party will be any different from the Conservatives on the climate crisis or fossil fuel industry.

Continue ReadingIt’s time to ban MPs from taking donations from fossil fuel firms

Fuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits.”

In Manchester, there was an angry response to what the End Fuel Poverty Coalition described as a ‘another feeble budget.’

“The Chancellor failed to close the 91 percent loophole in windfall taxes, and failed to invest in the green jobs that would deliver cheaper home-grown energy for us all, and healthier homes,” said a spokesperson for the Coalition.   

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Stu Bretherton, Energy For All Campaign Coordinator at Fuel Poverty Action said he hopes Wednesday’s Statement will be the last Budget of a government that has “driven mass poverty, broken public services, illness and death.”

But Bretherton warned that none of the parties are “offering the bold changes that we desperately need so today we’re seeing trade unions, pensioners, climate activists and health workers Unite for Energy For All.”

“The next government’s energy policy should aim at ending fuel poverty, not managing it, and the money to do it is right there in energy company profits,” he said.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/fuel-poverty-protestors-gather-in-manchester-to-shine-light-on-thousands-of-lives-cut-short-this-winter-due-to-uninhabitable-homes/

Continue ReadingFuel poverty protestors gather in Manchester to shine light on thousands of lives cut short this winter due to uninhabitable homes

Rishi Sunak facing renewed pressure over plans to ‘max out’ North Sea oil

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Rishi Sunak offers huge fossil fuel subsidies to develop fossil fuel extraction in UK.
Rishi Sunak offers huge fossil fuel subsidies to develop fossil fuel extraction in UK.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/21/rishi-sunak-facing-renewed-pressure-over-plans-to-max-out-north-sea-oil

Dithering on renewable energy and insulation will leave people in Britain ‘colder and poorer’, campaigners warn

Rishi Sunak is facing further attacks on his plans to expand oil and gas exploration in the North Sea this week. The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill – to be debated in the Commons on Monday – has already triggered widespread protests, including the resignation of Chris Skidmore, a former Conservative energy minister.

The bill aims to boost fossil fuel extraction by establishing a new system under which licences for North Sea oil and gas projects will be awarded annually.

Green groups and analysts are lining up to criticise it. UpLift, which campaigns for green energy, pointed out that the bill, which the government says will “max out” the UK’s reserves, will actually result in only a 2% rise in North Sea gas output. “The remaining 98% of gas demand will come from existing North Sea fields,” its analysis finds.

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“Sunak, like his predecessor Liz Truss, is obsessing over oil and gas, but dithering on renewables and insulation which will boost UK energy security and lower bills,” said Tessa Khan, executive director of UpLift. “And it’s making people in this country colder and poorer.”

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www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/21/rishi-sunak-facing-renewed-pressure-over-plans-to-max-out-north-sea-oil

Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil's You May Find Yourself... art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Continue ReadingRishi Sunak facing renewed pressure over plans to ‘max out’ North Sea oil

Energy price cap rise will ‘hammer households even harder’ this year, union body warns

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/energy-price-cap-rise-will-hammer-households-even-harder-this-year-union-body-warns/

Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

The leading trade union body has slammed government policy for benefiting corporate profiteering at the expense of household bills, leading renewed calls to nationalise the energy sector after the 5% energy price cap rise.

Households will be ‘hammered even harder’ in 2024 the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said, as the Ofgem price cap rise came into effect from January 1, which will see households across the country face a 5% increase in their energy bill.

It has led to further warnings from charities about struggling households facing another cold start to the year and renewed calls for government support to help households struggling with their energy bills.

“No one should struggle to get by in one of the richest countries in the world,” said TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak.

“But 13 years of wage stagnation and cuts to social security have left millions badly exposed to sky-high bills this winter.”

With energy bills already 50% higher than two years ago, Nowak said the price cap rise will only “hammer households even harder in the coming year”.

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Warm This Winter, a coalition of 50 leading UK charities, warned of the effects the government’s inaction at tackling the energy crisis will have across services.  

“Failure to avert this cold homes crisis will lead to pressure on the NHS, a mental health catastrophe and additional winter deaths caused by living in cold damp homes,” said Fiona Waters, Warm This Winter spokesperson.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/energy-price-cap-rise-will-hammer-households-even-harder-this-year-union-body-warns/

Continue ReadingEnergy price cap rise will ‘hammer households even harder’ this year, union body warns

1,000,000 children living in most extreme poverty as figure almost trebles since 2017, report finds

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/1000000-children-living-in-most-extreme-poverty-as-figure-almost-trebles-since-2017-report-finds/

A damning new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) on the scale of destitution in the UK, has found that more than a million children experienced the most extreme form of poverty last year, with the figure almost trebling since 2017.

The report – the fourth in a series of Destitution in the UK studies published regularly in recent years, also revealed that almost 4 million people experienced destitution in 2022. Destitution is when people cannot afford to meet their most basic physical needs to stay warm, dry, clean and fed.

The damning figures shame us as a nation, with the rise in levels of destitution down to the cost of living crisis, low incomes as well as high levels of debt. The JRF report also highlighted how the social security system is failing to protect people from destitution, with almost three quarters (72%) of those destitute being in receipt of benefits.

The number of people experiencing destitution has increased by 61% since the last Destitution in the UK survey in 2019, an increase of almost two-and-a-half times (148%) compared to 2017. The report stated: “Single people of working age continue to be the worst-affected group by far, but for the first time in 2022 around a million children were living in households that experienced destitution. The shocking statistics revealed in this report reflect a social security system now so full of holes that it falls to charities – such as food banks – to try to prevent people from experiencing the worst of destitution, but the task is too great for them.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/10/1000000-children-living-in-most-extreme-poverty-as-figure-almost-trebles-since-2017-report-finds/

1.20pm: From the report:

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The study findings emphasise the need for urgent action to address the profoundly detrimental impact of
living in destitution and prevent more people experiencing this most severe form of material hardship.
Destitution impacts on health, mental health and people’s prospects. At a societal level, it puts strain on

already overstretched services. It is morally unacceptable that people have to rely on food banks and other
voluntary efforts to meet their basic physical needs. We need a stronger state safety net providing crisis
support to everyone experiencing destitution, regardless of where they live or who they are, with cash-first
assistance and ready access to free high-quality advice. While this would make an immediate difference to
those most in need, we need bolder action to address the drivers of destitution, starting with a commitment
to ending destitution in the UK and moving on to ‘design out’ destitution from our social security and
immigration systems.

Continue Reading1,000,000 children living in most extreme poverty as figure almost trebles since 2017, report finds