North Norfolk MP angry over failure of cheap energy bill - 23/03/2009
Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, has expressed his anger over the failure of a bill which was designed to tackle price rises from energy suppliers.
Not enough MPs showed up to help pass the proposed bill on Friday (March 20th), which would have helped more people onto cheaper energy tariffs and facilitated wider use of energy-efficient materials such as insulation.
North Norfolk News reports many pensioners are among the UK's fuel poor, while households in rural parts of Norfolk which have no gas supplies also suffer as they cannot qualify for cheaper, dual-fuel rates.
Mr Lamb told the paper: "I am very angry about what's happened today. A good bill that could have made a really difference has fallen, not due to its merits, but due to it being blocked."
He added that more than 3,000 pensioners in North Norfolk would continue to struggle with their energy bills and could have to decide between buying food and heating their homes.
All the UK's major energy companies have recently announced price reductions, but the cuts are less than the increases introduced last year.
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