Gordon Brown is right to resist fuel payments
Posted by DavidM in Green Politics, Save energy | 6 September 2008
There is an increasing clamour from unions and others for the government to make a one-off payment to households to help them with the high cost of fuel.
Although the pressure is mounting Gordon Brown is right to say no and his alternative - to fund energy saving activity such as cavity and loft insulation - is the right approach.
A one-off tax is politically warming but what if fuel prices are still high next year, and the year after? Are we going to keep paying, and if so won't the energy companies just add it to their prices?
Also, fuel payments don't help lower our dependency on expensive foreign energy.
Instead it makes sense to use the money to fund energy improvements for anyone struggling to meet their fuel costs. That way, you help them meet their bills for life as well as lowering the UK's demand for energy and cutting CO2 emissions.
It's like an updated version of the old saying: Give a household an energy payment and they'll stay warm until the next price rise. Give them insulation and they'll be snug forever.
Stick to your guns Gordon.
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