West Midlands call for action as five people die in the region each day from turning off the heating
It's after the government cut finding for insulation in 2013.
Last updated 15th Apr 2024
A new analysis of official data, published by Greenpeace UK, reveals that five people have died every single day in the West Midlands during winter due to cold homes, since the Conservative government drastically cut support for home insulation measures in 2013.
The research estimates that, in the West Midlands, almost 7,000 excess winter deaths were caused by living in cold, damp housing conditions over the last ten years, since David Cameron - who was Prime Minister at the time - decided to ‘cut the green crap’ in 2013.
This decision, which slashed subsidies for loft and wall insulation, resulted in a cliff edge for government funded energy efficiency installations, which fell - in just one year - by almost 90%, from 2.3 million in 2012 to just over 300,000 in 2013 across the UK.
Paul Morozzo, Greenpeace UK’s fuel poverty campaigner, said:
“Thousands of people are literally freezing to death in their own homes during winter. And not only have successive governments failed to prevent this needless and shocking loss of life but they have fuelled this silent public health crisis by slashing insulation funding and failing to deliver a proper scheme to upgrade our cold, damp, draughty homes.
“This persistent failure to protect lives in one of the easiest ways possible is also driving the rise in fuel poverty, the cost of living and climate crises - since well insulated homes cost less to heat and cut carbon emissions. Cold homes cost lives and we urgently need a government willing to invest at least £6 billion every year to end this national scandal once and for all.”
The UK has the least energy-efficient housing in Western Europe, which - as well as contributing to thousands of deaths every year - means high energy bills for low-income households and is a key contributor to fuel poverty.
Government figures released last month show that there are currently 3.17 million households living in fuel poverty in the UK.
Poorly insulated homes also contribute to the poor health of many people forced to live in cold homes and are estimated to cost the NHS more than £850 million a year in England.
Stuart Bretherton, Fuel Poverty Action’s Energy For All Campaign Coordinator, said: “Countless avoidable deaths under this government prove that it was true then as it is now, green policies are a necessity to reducing poverty and driving improvements to social wellbeing.
“The next government must set its ambitions high in delivering safe, non-toxic, non-flammable insulation appropriate for our homes; installed by well trained workers.
“Repairing and retrofitting the UK’s housing stock could prevent further loss of life, create thousands of skilled jobs and vastly reduce energy wastage for households bringing down emissions and our bills.”
Greenpeace is calling on the government to invest at least £6 billion of public funds annually over 10 years to deliver a national home retrofit programme and introduce regulations to significantly improve the energy efficiency of private rented-sector and social housing.
The Labour Party had previously pledged to invest the £6 billion a year that Greenpeace is calling for, but recently scaled back its spending plans for insulating homes by over 70%.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Labour Party reinstates its previous spending commitments in its upcoming election manifesto.