Should we really be trying to make fuel more expensive in an attempt to make it colder outside?

Cold weather triggers heating payments | News | Inside Housing

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK, said: ‘The drop in excess winter deaths from the previous year seems to show that some progress has been made. However, it’s still unacceptable that in this day and age tens of thousands more older people die in this country every winter from the effects of the cold weather.

‘These are avoidable deaths due not just to the cold weather in itself but to the country’s inability to meet the challenge of dropping temperatures. Behind these shocking statistics lie deep-seated social issues, such as 3.5 million older people in fuel poverty and one in three over-60s living in houses which fail the decent home standard.’

Households are classified as ‘fuel poor’ when they spend a tenth or more of their income on energy bills. Age UK estimates that half of all fuel poverty is among the over 65s.