Chancellor urged to cut fuel costs - 16/03/2011
Scottish MPs have called on the chancellor George Osborne to focus on fuel prices in his Budget.
John Swinney, the finance secretary for the Holyrood authority, insisted that the UK government must take action on high fuel costs, which are landing customers with higher and higher energy bills.
He added that "with estimates suggesting that the dramatic increase in oil prices could provide the exchequer with a £2 billion windfall from the North Sea this year, Mr Osborne must use these additional revenues to ease the crippling burden of sky-high prices on Scottish families and businesses."
The comments come a day after Westminster appointed its first ever fuel poverty tsar.
Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics has been hired to lead an independent review into the issue. Fuel poverty is where a household has to spend more than 10% of its income on gas and electricity bills, and is affecting more and more people. But there are ways to get cheaper energy – visit energyhelpline.com to compare gas and electricity tariffs.
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