DOMESTIC FUEL REBATES (Hansard, 5 February 1980)

§ Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for a scheme to assist households on low incomes with the payment of fuel bills by means of rebates. The aim of my Bill is to bring in a national and comprehensive scheme that will give the necessary assistance to those who are unable, because of low incomes, to meet their fuel bills.
There is no doubt that increasing numbers of people are having difficulty in paying their fuel bills, and none more so than those on low incomes. For such people, keeping their homes adequately heated and finding the money for the fuel bills becomes almost a nightmare.
Last year, for instance, electricity prices went up by about 20 per cent. This year the increase will be larger. As we know, gas prices are due to go up during 1980 by nearly 30 per cent. The price of paraffin, so much used by poorer families, is 50 per cent. higher this year, due to the ending of price controls.
When the Government announced the substantial increase in gas prices they should also have announced a proper and adequate scheme that would give the kind of assistance that should be given to people on low incomes to help them to meet their fuel commitments.
Clearly, retired people on limited incomes need more help then they are now receiving in meeting their fuel bills. Many elderly people in the community—certainly those on limited incomes—find it so difficult to keep their homes warm that they do not use the fuel that they have. The reason is obvious. They are frightened that at the end of the quarter they will have bills that they will be unable to pay. Many keep the heating off. They wrap themselves in blankets. I suggest that is not a dignified way for the community to treat its senior citizens.
Apart from the elderly, there are others who need assistance with fuel bills—the disabled and the handicapped, the single-parent families, often on very limited incomes, and those on low pay with families.
When I raised the matter on an Adjournment debate last July I argued that 242 the electricity discount scheme should be maintained and extended. The electricity discount scheme, introduced by the previous Labour Administration, gave help to 4 million people on low income. It was a recognition that because of the high charge for electricity special provision should be given to people on low incomes. I was pleased when that scheme was introduced by the previous Labour Government. However, I was displeased when, instead of keeping and extending the scheme, the present Government decided to cancel it. In its place there is a new kind of benefit, which is likely to assist only 345,000 people.
One argument in favour of the new benefit is that the main category likely to be assisted comprises pensioners over 75 years of age who are on supplementary benefit. But there is nothing for those pensioners under 75 who are on supplementary benefit. The Supplementary Benefits Commission has estimated that 70 per cent. of pensioners over 75 on supplementary benefit are already receiving a heating addition—an inadequate one, in my view. However, those people will not receive a penny under the Government's new scheme. The truth is that the Government have cheated those who are most in need of assistance with their fuel bills.
I argue in my Bill that it is necessary to have a system of fuel rebates, or allowances, that will provide comprehensive assistance for the people whom I have in mind. In the early 1960s, when the revaluation of domestic property took place, great concern was expressed, if not by the Government of the day, that many retired people would not be able to pay their rate bills. It wasargued—rightly, in my view—that there should be a system of rate rebates. After a great deal of pressure, a rate rebate system was introduced, and it continues now. There is no controversy over rate rebates. My argument is simple; if it is right to have rate rebates and rent allowances for people on low incomes, it must be equally right to have a system of fuel rebates for those who clearly cannot—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, but he must not make the speech that he would make if the House gave him permission to bring in his Bill. He must make a speech justifying the Bill.

§ Mr. Winnick
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My aim is to bring in such a scheme to provide the assistance that I believe is necessary. Fuel poverty is a blight in this country. Millions of our fellow citizens cannot make ends meet when it comes to paying their fuel bills. The type of hardship that I have described must be ended. I see no reason or justification for allowing that type of poverty to continue in our midst. That is why I request permission to bring in my Bill.